Legislature Approves Two Constitutional Amendments that will Appear on the November Ballot

Voters in North Carolina will decide in November on two constitutional amendments approved Wednesday by the state Legislature, which seek to limit income and property tax rates in the state. 

One of the amendments, SB 1080, proposes to include in the state constitution a permanent 3.5% cap on the income tax rate starting in 2027.

The current state income tax rate is 3.99%. 

If voters approve this amendment in November, the Legislature will not be able to increase the income tax rate in the future unless another constitutional reform is passed. 

The other constitutional amendment passed Wednesday is HB 1089, which seeks to give the Legislature the power to put limits on local property tax rates that are currently set by local governments. 

The two proposed constitutional amendments were approved by a majority partisan vote in both chambers and will go directly to the November ballot for voters to decide on, since the governor does not have veto power in this type of legislation. 

Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed, who recently resigned from the Democratic Party after losing the primary, voted in favor of these amendments, giving Republicans the supermajority (73 to 46) they needed in the House of Representatives. 

In the Senate, where Republicans do hold a supermajority, HB 1089 passed Wednesday by a vote of 31 to 15, with the support of Democratic Sen. Dan Blue, while SB 1080 passed Tuesday by a partisan vote of 30 to 18.  

During the debates, Republicans argued that the amendments are intended to provide economic relief to the people of North Carolina in the face of the rising cost of living. 

Democrats have warned that capping tax rates will cause the state and local governments to lose revenue needed to sustain basic services for the population such as schools, health care, safety and emergency assistance.