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Budget & Taxes

State fiscal forecast improves

Fiscal forecasters now think the state government will bring in $1.3 billion more in the 2025-27 biennium to support its general fund than they were estimating just two months ago. A joint estimate from the Office of State Budget and Management and the legislature’s Fiscal Research Division attributes the change,...

By Ray Gronberg

May 18, 2026

ElectriCities speaks out against Barnes’ Rocky Mount bill

ElectriCities of North Carolina opposes state Sen. Lisa Barnes’ push to impose additional restrictions on how Rocky Mount’s government uses the revenue from its power and gas utilities. Barnes’ Senate Bill 1076 “undermines a system that is already lawful, limited and overseen,” says Rhian Ray, ElectriCities’ government affairs manager. The...

By Ray Gronberg

May 14, 2026

GOP leaders agree to tax, worker-raise budget framework

House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger have a deal on state-employee salaries and tax policy that clears the way for legislators to finally finish their work on the state’s 2025-27 budget. Teachers and law enforcement are in line for big raises, with most everyone else  on the...

By Ray Gronberg

May 13, 2026

Boliek frets about Charlotte airport, stadium, water-project borrowing

State Auditor Dave Boliek thinks Charlotte’s government is borrowing entirely too much money. The latest such request, reviewed and approved by the Local Government Commission on Tuesday, involves money to pay for upgrades to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. These include the construction of a new, fourth north-south runway and the...

By Ray Gronberg

May 12, 2026

Barnes: Rocky Mount “not a good steward”

Nash County’s only state senator says she filed a bill that would forbid Rocky Mount from using electric-utility revenue to shore up its general fund because the city “has proven that it’s not a good steward of taxpayer funds.” It’s thus necessary to “ensure every penny our rural neighbors outside Rocky...

By Ray Gronberg

May 12, 2026

Zenger on Meta

Meta’s lobbyists “introduced us” to the idea of adding app stores to the list of online platforms that will have age restrictions if House Bill 301 passes, lead sponsor Rep. Jeff Zenger says. Zenger also isn’t too worried about the possibility that the social-media giant — the parent company of...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Republicans suggest revamp of fuel-price riders

A trio of House Republicans wants legislators to revamp North Carolina’s power-pricing system, to give Duke Energy and other utilities more incentive to find ways to save money on fuel. Reps. Mike Schietzelt, Erin Paré and Ben Moss joined forces to introduce House Bill 1192, which would require Duke and...

By Ray Gronberg

May 11, 2026

Senate advances moratorium on property tax-value changes

Senate leaders have begun pushing through committee a bill that would freeze property value assessments for a year in a handful of the state’s counties, they say to buy time for a broader rethink of property tax policy. Senate Bill 889 — sponsored by among others Senate leader Phil Berger...

By Ray Gronberg

May 1, 2026

Batch backtracks on Medicaid rebase

Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, has walked back her caucus’s support of the Medicaid rebase bill that it has already voted in favor of passing. She put out a letter on Friday asking the Senate’s Republican leaders to pull back the bill and rewrite it to drop three of...

By Ray Gronberg

April 27, 2026

Duke paid no federal income tax in 2025

Duke Energy and three other large, North Carolina-headquartered corporations paid no federal income tax in 2025, a Washington-based advocacy group says. A common thread linking them and 84 other prominent companies, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says, is that many rely on depreciation-related tax breaks. Congress expanded these last...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

House panel shelves hospital-taxation proposals

The House’s property tax committee wrapped up its pre-session work on Wednesday without offering any endorsement of the idea of reeling in some of the tax breaks the state gives hospitals. Members endorsed the idea of putting a constitutional amendment on the fall ballot that, if voter-approved, would require the...

By Ray Gronberg

April 22, 2026

Pew frets about state reserves

North Carolina’s primary rainy-day fund had $3.6 billion as of last summer, which would fund about 42 days’ worth of state spending, a drop-off in reserves that parallels national trends, the Pew Charitable Trusts say. The state is two years — and a devastating hurricane — down the road from...

By Ray Gronberg

April 15, 2026

Stein calls for changes to data-center tax incentive

Gov. Josh Stein wants legislators to consider modifying or repealing a 20-year-old tax break North Carolina gives the operators of some data centers. Existing law gives them an exemption from state and local sales taxes on their power purchases and equipment. State Commerce Department officials estimate that it’s already costing...

By Ray Gronberg

April 9, 2026

Treasurer: Rocky Mount on “extremely short leash” over finances

Local Government Commission members say Rocky Mount’s financial troubles stem from a bad culture that started at the top, with the city’s elected officials. They agreed Wednesday to warn the city that it’s at risk of having the commission take over its financial affairs and is on what State Treasurer...

By Ray Gronberg

April 2, 2026

LGC to scrutinize Rocky Mount, Littleton

Local Government Commission members intended to grill officials from Rocky Mount and Littleton Wednesday afternoon on why they haven’t been able to get their municipal finances in order. The situation in both is to the point that State Treasurer Brad Briner’s office has warned them the LGC could end up...

By Ray Gronberg

April 1, 2026

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