Budget, Taxation, and the Economy

North Carolina has 80,000 miles of state highways, more than any other state besides Texas. Unlike Texas, where state roads are one-fourth of the total 313,000 miles of roads…

North Carolina has one of the strictest balanced-budget requirements in the country. State law holds the governor responsible for cutting expenditures to avoid a deficit. Republican leadership in the…

Updated as of January 2020. Federal funds are tempting, but they create risks for states that accept them. North Carolina is no exception. First, they leave the state and those who…

Updated as of January 2020. “Bull Durham,” “Last of the Mohicans,” “Dirty Dancing,” and most other beloved ‘North Carolina films’ were produced without film production grants or incentives. They…

Updated as of January 2020. State government is the largest employer in North Carolina, with more than 300,000 full-time-equivalent positions. State employees have been working for the state an average…

State government needs revenue to pay for the goods and services it provides, and the state raises that revenue by imposing personal income, sales, and other taxes on its residents.

North Carolina has one of the strictest balanced-budget requirements in the country. It requires not just balance on paper, but that the governor “shall effect the necessary economies in…

Updated as of January 2020. State facilities became a surprisingly contentious part of budget discussions in 2019. In 2017, state government owned nearly 118 million square feet of space…

Updated as of January 2020. North Carolina’s minimum wage is tied to the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour. Except in the case of tipped workers, employers…

Updated as of January 2020. For many years, economists and tax policy researchers maintained that North Carolina’s tax system needed a major overhaul. The system was a model of hodgepodge…