Come on down TR. You and yours are always welcome in South Carolina :) Y'all would be a good addition to the state.
Posted on 08/04/2004 7:26:08 AM PDT by TaxRelief
RALEIGH – North Carolina is a state of many firsts.
We were first in freedom – except, of course, for the shameful persistence of chattel slavery for nearly a century after independence.
We were the first to create a state university – thus ensuring that North Carolina’s wealthy elite could get a subsidized college education at a time when the rest of the country’s wealthy elite were forced to pay for their own children’s education.
We were first in flight – well, actually, no we weren’t but I’m trying to develop a theme here.
More recently, North Carolina has been distinguished in other ways. Since 2000, our state has been first in the South in job losses. We shed nearly 150,000 private-sector positions from January 2001 until May 2004, or about 4.4 percent of the private workforce. The percentage loss for the region as a whole was 1.4 percent.
And according to the latest count from the U.S. Census Bureau, North Carolina is first in the Southeast in taxes. After the new 2001-02 data came out recently, I combined it with a measurement of personal income in each state to compute an “effective tax rate” – the share of income paid in state and local taxes in each jurisdiction.
For many years, our state has ranked second in the region on this measure of average tax burden, even though North Carolina imposed by far the highest income taxes (indeed, our top personal income tax rate ranks among the highest in the United States). The reason was that our property taxes were relatively low and our sales tax roughly average, thus moderating the effects of our income taxes on the overall burden.
But the situation has been changing. In 2001, Gov. Mike Easley and majorities in the General Assembly reacted to a budget deficit by enacting a large tax increase, much of it in the form of general and selective sales taxes and a new 8.25 percent tax rate on personal income. Simultaneously, economic pressures and the governor’s decision to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in local tax sharing and reimbursement dollars led some localities to hike their property-tax rates. Thus our property tax burden began creeping up, and our sales tax burden actually surpassed the regional average.
By 2001-02, when the first wave of tax increases began to empty taxpayers’ wallets, North Carolina had slightly edged out Georgia (9.91 percent vs. 9.89 percent) to lead the seven Southeastern states in effective tax burden. More recent estimates from the Tax Foundation don’t show this trend extending into 2003 and 2004, but these are projections and thus lack the comprehensiveness of the Census data (though they have the advantage of timeliness). And it’s worth remembering that North Carolina’s average tax burden, while above regional and historical norms, isn’t even close to being among the highest in the country (though our taxpayers do bear a heavier burden than those in Massachusetts, believe it or not).
Actually, the rankings aren’t critical. I’m more interested in what the regional benchmarks tell us about North Carolina’s fiscal posture. If policymakers had done what was necessary just to keep our tax burden at the regional average, North Carolinians would have paid more than $1.3 billion less in state and local taxes than we did in 2001-02.
But then we couldn’t have been first in something, again.
I moved to N. Carlina this past december. I make 50% more than I did in Texas but only see about 20% in my take home pay.
8 1/2 percent ties Minnesota.
If something doesn't change soon, they'll be a mass exodus to South Carolina or New Hampshire.
My understanding is that even without the tax increases, the Va budget, due to increased economic activity (due to the Bush tax DECREASES) will not be in the red next year.
So here we have a tax increase pushed largely on the need to balance the budget, which has proved unnecessary. Will it be repealed? Not a chance.
I've already told my fiance, after we start our family and look for the second house we'll be looking elsewhere most likely.
On top of taxes, the schools aren't that great, crime is getting out of control and the roads are pathetic.
Oh, but the art exhibits are nice :(
I'm really really really hoping Ballentine defeats Easley. Really.
Still sounds better than Wisconsin.
Well, damn. I was thinking about spending my retirement years in the mountains of NC. Maybe not.
While you're wringing your hands over what we're doing in California your state is crumbling around you.
If I'm not mistaken, we also have one of the highest, if not THE highest, road use taxes in the country. I love going to VA to visit the folks and getting my gasoline a good 15 cents cheaper / gallon.
Doesn't NC also have a personal property tax on all the assests you own? I.E. furniture, etc? In addition to the car tax?
Come on down TR. You and yours are always welcome in South Carolina :) Y'all would be a good addition to the state.
Democrat Governor and Democrat Legislature. It's a bitch.
Don't forget the personal property tax, either. When I finish my airplane, there is absolutely no way I will register it in NC.
ping... :(
Sorry but Georgia taxes are not 9.89 percent. Try 6 Percent.
I've only recieve a car tax bill so far. Which ticks me off. This year they'll tax me on 25k of the value of my car. Next year they'll tax me on 22k, 18k the next . . . Why am I paying taxes on a total value many times that of the original value (which was taxed too of course)? How is this legal?
My fiance did get a tax bill for her jetski. Its pathetic around here.
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