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NC Budget and Tax Center
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State lawmakers have introduced House Bill 117 (HB 117) that pushes for more tax cuts that benefit corporations, even as the state faces an ongoing revenue shortfall resulting from the tax plan passed in 2013.

State lawmakers would like to change an arcane tax provision that determines the amount of state income taxes paid by corporations. The state’s current tax system uses a formula that considers a corporation’s property, payroll, and sales in North Carolina. However, the tax change – referred to as single sales factor (SSF) apportionment formula – would only consider the sales component for certain corporations.

Proponents of this tax change claim that it will boost capital investment in the state and create more jobs. However, as BTC has highlighted before, this claim is not supported by real-world evidence. What will happen, however, is a further reduction in revenue available for public investments and services that businesses depend and rely on.

Here’s a quick recap on why North Carolina should not shift to a SSF apportionment formula: Read More

NC Budget and Tax Center
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The flood of numbers associated with the state’s tax collections has created growing confusion.  However, what should not get lost in this confusion is that those numbers all converge on one truth: the tax plan passed in 2013 costs more than was originally projected and is likely to hamper our state’s ability to reinvest as the economy recovers. Yesterday’s announcement by state officials that the consensus revenue forecast expects revenue to be $271 million short of projections for the current fiscal year confirms the challenges ahead.

So here is a break down on the numbers.

The total cost of the tax plan is approaching $1 billion for the current fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. This number measures the difference between the amount of tax revenue the state would have collected under the old tax structure and what the state is collecting under the new tax plan. The new tax plan was originally estimated to reduce tax revenue by $512.8 million for the current fiscal year, but that estimate is proving to be far lower than what we’re seeing today. BTC’s original estimates suggested that the total cost of the tax plan could reach $1 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. Read More

Commentary
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2014 End of Year Charts_tax cuts dig a holeAs the fiscal wonks at the N.C. Budget and Tax Center have repeatedly warned us would happen, the 2013 tax cuts (which went overwhelmingly to the rich and large, profitable corporations) continue to wreak havoc with the North Carolina state budget. As WRAL.com reported late last night, a new memo to lawmakers from the legislature’s Fiscal Research Division warns that the state budget shortfall is now up to $271 million for the current year.

Remember, this is happening in a time of (albeit imperfect) economic recovery around the country. For the most part, other states are gaining back the ground they lost during the Great Recession and repairing the damage inflicted upon essential state services.

Here in North Carolina, however, the opposite is true. Public spending on core functions like public schools remains mired near the bottom of the 50 states and, amazingly, many state agencies are now being asked to plan for a new round of additional budget cuts in 2015-16.

The bottom line: If things continue this way, conservative state leaders will succeed in their quest to fulfill right-wing icon Grover Norquist’s dark and disturbing vision of shrinking government down to the size at which they can “drown it in the bathtub.” Moreover, from the looks of things, they’re going to take a lot of average North Carolinians down the drain with them in the process.

NC Budget and Tax Center
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A new paper by UC Berkeley economist Danny Yagan provides further evidence that tax breaks that largely benefit the wealthy and profitable corporations are not a remedy for boosting the economy. In 2003, President George W. Bush passed one of the largest cuts ever to a federal capital tax rate – reducing the top tax rate on dividends to 15 percent from 38.6 percent. Using federal IRS data on corporate tax returns, Yagan compared corporations that benefited from this tax cut (C-corporations) to firms that didn’t benefit from the tax cut (S-corporations).

Corporations that got a massive dividend tax cut didn’t make any different choices about things that boost the real economy, the new paper highlights. The massive reduction to the federal dividend tax rate resulted in no meaningful change in corporate investment, net investment, or employee compensation for corporations. What did change following the huge dividend tax cut was an increase in payout to corporate shareholders. Simply put, the tax cut benefited corporate shareholders but not the overall economy.

Some lawmakers and outside groups in North Carolina are pushing to eliminate capital gains from state taxes. Governor McCrory recently announced his desire to eliminate the state’s capital gains tax for what he deems “innovation-related companies”. Either proposal to cut capital gains taxes would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyone else in the state, a recently released BTC report highlights. Proponents often claim that eliminating or reducing the capital gains tax rate will increase investment and help boost the economy. However, no apparent cause-and-effect relationship exists between changes in the top capital gains tax rate and savings, investment, or productivity growth. Instead, various analyses highlight how cutting capital gains tax rates have concentrated income at the very top. There is simply no reason to expect this reality to somehow be any different in North Carolina.

Bigger tax breaks for the rich while the state is cutting support for schools and other essential job-creation tools is not a path that promotes economic opportunity and prosperity for all North Carolinians. This new paper serves as yet more evidence that state lawmakers should reject calls to eliminate or cut capital gains taxes and instead work to make sure the wealthiest North Carolinians and profitable corporations pay their fair share.

NC Budget and Tax Center
Posted by : In NC Budget and Tax Center

A new report released today by the Budget & Tax Center highlights how eliminating North Carolina’s taxes on capital gains would largely benefit those who need it least while making things worse for families struggling to make ends meet.

Some lawmakers and outside groups in North Carolina are pushing a plan that would benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyone else by ending state taxation of profits from selling artwork, vacation homes and other high-end items owned by relatively few North Carolinians. The proposal is part of a larger push to radically alter North Carolina’s tax structure to the detriment of the long-term well-being of the state and its residents.

Cap gains allocation

Key findings from the report include:

  • Eliminating capital gains from state income tax would reduce annual state revenue by $520 million, meaning even less revenue for public investments that help drive the state’s economy forward. This revenue loss would be in addition to the costly 2013 tax plan, which is projected to reduce state revenue by as much as $1.1 billion for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

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