{"id":1146,"date":"2026-05-27T19:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:36:24","slug":"tax-cap-would-force-nc-to-hike-other-taxes-or-limit-raises-gov-josh-stein-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=1146","title":{"rendered":"Tax cap would force NC to hike other taxes or limit raises, Gov. Josh Stein says"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Stein is calling a constitutional amendment capping North Carolina\u2019s income tax rate a \u201ccon\u201d and a \u201ccynical shell game\u201d that would put the burden for raising revenue on the backs of \u201cregular\u201d North Carolinians.<\/p>\n

Read more Greg Lindberg\u2019s $2 billion fraud and bribery saga. Here\u2019s how it all unfolded<\/a><\/p>\n

Voters will get to decide in November if they want the state income tax rate capped at 3.5%, down from the current cap of 7%. The General Assembly passed a bill that adds the amendment to ballots this year. Most Democrats opposed the move, saying it will hem in future lawmakers who need to raise revenue.<\/p>\n

State revenue from income and sales taxes are what\u2019s used to fund salaries for state employees and teachers.<\/p>\n

Stein said the cap would make \u201cregular people pay the consequences of it,\u201d because if there is a recession and revenues are needed, that could result in an increase in the sales tax<\/a>. The state sales tax rate is 4.75%, with consumers also being charged local sales taxes on top of that.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cthere\u2019s no question\u201d that sales tax would need to be raised if there is a recession under the parameter of a 3.5% income tax cap. The state personal income tax rate is currently 3.99%, and set to drop to 3.49% in Republicans\u2019 budget deal announced earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want is a long-term sustained investment in the public servants who do the people\u2019s business. What the constitutional amendment does is consign us to a bleak future,\u201d Stein told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday at the Albemarle Building in downtown Raleigh. That future would include less money for raises for state employees, he said.<\/p>\n

Stein also criticized Republicans\u2019 plan to continue dropping the corporate income tax rate, which is currently 2%.<\/p>\n

With less tax revenue, Stein said \u201cwe will have to continue to be at the bottom of pay for state employees and have services start to degrade, or degrade even worse over time, or we\u2019re going to have to get revenue from somewhere else, which would be through the sales tax. Which again is taking money out of the pockets of regular people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans are generally opposed to raising any taxes. Stein wants the current tax rates to remain where they are now.<\/p>\n

The governor and the General Assembly are mostly on the same page, however, about the need to significantly increase law enforcement pay<\/a> in North Carolina, particularly for correctional officers.<\/p>\n

Both proposals call for about 15% average raises, though there is no budget document yet. Stein also wants longevity-based step increases.<\/p>\n

Read more NC may make it easier to throw out ballots over missing ID. How you can weigh in<\/a><\/p>\n

Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Cooley Dismukes said they are using a pilot program to speed up hiring in a few of the 55 correctional facilities across the state. But they need to keep those new employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a 24% turnover rate among correctional officers, retention continues to be our greatest challenge. People are not staying on the job if they can\u2019t make ends meet and support their families at salaries that range from $18 to $25 an hour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Capt. Derrick Simmons, a shift supervisor at Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro, has worked in corrections for 28 years, he said, and staffing numbers have dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day, when I come to work, my primary goal is to make sure that everyone working at the institution and everyone that\u2019s incarcerated there stays safe,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cHaving critical shortages of staff makes that much more difficult. Ten years ago, it was routine to have about 28 officers and five sergeants on shift. At lineup today, we may see seven or eight officers and three sergeants on shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having fewer staff means more assaults and fewer educational and rehabilitation programs, he said.<\/p>\n

Dismukes said \u201csignificant raises for all of our line staff are critical to our ability to recruit and retain our tenured staff, and to protect North Carolina\u2019s public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger said these are the law enforcement raises in the deal they reached:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have about half the correctional officers needed to safely operate state prisons, and we are losing talent every month,\u201d Stein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day without a budget is another day that correctional officers will keep scraping by, trying to keep people safe with half the manpower needed,\u201d Stein said.<\/p>\n

He urged legislators \u201cto get the deal done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers are not in Raleigh, as they took a week off. The session began April 21. They will return next week, and budget writers have said they are on track to pass a budget bill the week of June 15.<\/p>\n

Read more Ciara Miller Hasn’t Made ‘Final Decision’ About Returning to ‘Summer House’<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 2:20 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Josh Stein says a 3.5% income tax cap would force sales tax hikes and cut funding for state services, urging lawmakers in Raleigh to protect revenue and pay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nTax cap would force NC to hike other taxes or limit raises, Gov. 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