North Carolina Democrats mostly routed Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections, shifting the balance of power in Raleigh and Washington. But voters still approved three Republican-backed changes to the state’s constitution that will affect your taxes and further cement voting rules.
Here’s what it means for you.
State lawmakers can set a limit on your town’s property taxes
Thanks to a 60% “for” vote, the legislature can now bar local governments from raising property taxes past a certain amount. It’s unclear what the limit will be; state lawmakers still must set it.
Republican legislators proposed the change after a series of committee meetings to find ways to reform property taxes.
Some local officials across North Carolina criticized the amendment and warned it could prevent them from paying for essential government services. Among other things, local governments use property taxes to pay for jails and law enforcement, social services, public parks, fire protection, ambulances and schools.
In May, Cornelius’s town board passed a resolution opposing the legislature’s attempt to cap property taxes. The resolution said that limiting local property tax authority “will not reduce the need for services, but will reduce the ability for the Town to provide them effectively,” according to Cornelius Today.
Property taxes vary across North Carolina. Touristy Emerald Isle, for example, has one of the state’s lowest rates, NC Local reported earlier this year. A surge of beach visitors in the summertime brings in ample sales tax revenue that pays for services. But property taxes further inland in Eastern North Carolina tend to be higher.
One Charlotte voter who spoke with NC Local seemed to reflect a broader trend, casting his ballot for Democrats but also for tax change.
“I can afford to pay my taxes, but if I wasn’t in a good place, I wouldn’t be able to,” Lee Rankin said after casting his ballot in the city’s Elizabeth neighborhood. “The taxes just keep going up on my house.”
North Carolina income taxes can’t go above 3.5%
This new amendment will also put a hard limit on certain taxes, but the cap here is specific and already known.
By a vote of nearly 62%, North Carolinians decided that future lawmakers cannot raise the state’s income tax rate above 3.5% without another voter-approved change to the constitution.
“I fundamentally disagree with the state concept of an income tax,” State Sen. Ralph Hise, a Republican from Mitchell County, said in a May committee meeting, according to NC Newsline. He argued that it made North Carolina less competitive when trying to draw in business.
Conversely, N.C. House Democratic leader Robert Reives II, who is from Chatham County, argued that North Carolinians would still be taxed. Costs would simply shift to fees and sales taxes, he told NC Newsline.
The conservative-leaning John Locke Foundation applauded the amendment, telling Spectrum News last month it would protect taxpayers in the long run. Meanwhile, the left-leaning North Carolina Budget and Tax Center lamented that it could tie future lawmakers’ hands.
Currently, the state’s flat individual income tax rate is 3.99%. It is scheduled to drop to 3.49% next year.
Voter ID requirements are part of N.C.’s constitution now
It’s already state law that voters need identification to vote by mail. Now, it will also be part of the state’s constitution. About 59% of voters backed the change.
In 2018, voters similarly backed making the photo ID requirement a part of the state constitution — but that change only dealt with in-person voting.
If the General Assembly wants to undo the ID requirement later, it will be a heavier lift now.
Republican lawmakers who supported the change argued it would strengthen election integrity. Critics claimed that it was redundant and might prove restrictive if election laws needed to change in the future.
Early voting in this year’s midterm set a record for turnout: more than 2.7 million ballots were cast early and in person in the state, NC Newsline reported. In 2022, the last midterm election, about 2 million North Carolinians voted early in person.
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