taxes

The Council on State Taxation (COST) estimate of tax burdens is widely misunderstood. The COST study does not measure the cost of government or the competitiveness of North Carolina’s business tax climate.

County and municipal governments provide many key services while taking in billions of dollars in revenue. Their roles grow as state government keeps more local funding sources and shifts more taxing power to localities. Still, finding comparative data is difficult. This report helps address that problem by providing information of how much local government costs in every city and county in North Carolina.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s money-losing tax credit for film production would hit taxpayers’ wallets even harder if it’s expanded this year. That’s the conclusion of a new John Locke Foundation…

A 25 percent income tax credit on film production expenses would cost the state $63.3 million more each year than the current 15 percent credit, which loses $11.2 million. Ernst & Young estimated the state lost $0.02 on each dollar of tax credits assuming all film-related economic activity result from the tax credit.

The original House budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2009-10 used $1.5 billion in Federal bailout funds to craft a budget that spent $19.3 billion. Although it is nearly $3 billion less than the original $22 billion request, the original House plan would have been just $1 billion less than actual appropriations in FY2008-09.

This report documents the change in locally generated revenues of 98 North Carolina counties* and the 30 largest N.C. cities between 2002 and 2007. Locally generated revenues increased faster than population and inflation in 96 of 98 counties and 24 of 30 cities. In Union County, revenue increased 48 percent faster than population and inflation over five years. For that reason, many counties and cities are having financial difficulties because they have spent taxpayer revenues on unnecessary or low-priority projects.

Tax revenue in North Carolina is volatile because of the dependence on income and sales taxes. Proper budgeting would account for the rise and fall in tax revenues over time.

North Carolina’s relatively high tax burden in the region has not improved the state’s schools, roads, health, or crime as much as would be expected. Per-capita personal income growth also lagged, though population grew faster in N.C. than in most other states.

RALEIGH — North Carolina earns a D grade for its Taxpayers’ Return on Investment, a new measure that compares states’ tax burdens to their performance in education, road quality, health,…

Every county and school district in North Carolina will accept voluntary contributions. Few people donate to Wake County schools or county programs.