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Budget & Taxes

Berger explains delay of tax-loophole bill

Senate Republicans haven’t taken up a House bill that would close a property tax loophole because they want to address local taxation policy more broadly, Senate leader Phil Berger says. “We’ve got members who are looking at that,” he said of House Bill 1042, which has been parked in Senate...

By Ray Gronberg

July 6, 2026

Democrats question budget-bill prediction-markets tax

Democrats are voicing increasing criticism of a budget-bill provision that establishes a 6% tax on the net trading-fee revenue prediction markets receive from sports betting. Sens. Julie Mayfield and Michael Garrett, and Rep. Pricey Harrison, all questioned why legislators would set a lower tax rate than the 23% the state...

By Ray Gronberg

July 6, 2026

Ferry tolls trigger GOP dissent in Senate

Republican Sens. Bobby Hanig and Norman Sanderson say they voted against the budget bill because it requires the N.C. Department of Transportation to institute tolls on all of the state’s coastal ferries. The move is unfair to coastal residents and a threat to the economic vitality of eastern North Carolina,...

By Ray Gronberg

July 6, 2026

Stein OKs revaluation moratorium

Gov. Josh Stein has signed into law a one-year moratorium on the use of the new-for-2026 valuation updates Guilford County and a few other counties were intending to use to assess property taxes. Stein says Senate Bill 889 “provides tax relief for North Carolinians who are feeling pain in their pocketbooks,”...

By Ray Gronberg

June 22, 2026

Tax bill on the move, despite R&D complaints

House and Senate Republicans are poised to pass an omnibus tax bill that will also allow credit unions to broaden their membership base. The compromise version of Senate Bill 595 passed a second-reading vote in the Senate on Thursday, via a 28-14 party-line vote. A third-reading vote is scheduled for...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

ABC plans quick-turnaround pricing study

The State ABC Commission has ordered its staff to conduct “a thorough study of minimum baseline pricing” for liquor, with a preliminary report from it due in 30 days, its spokesman says. The move followed liquor- and hospitality-industry complaints that have rolled in since commission Chairman Hank Bauer told brokers...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Legislators want to clamp down on occupancy-tax diversions

House members aren’t about to let the ink dry on a recent state Supreme Court ruling without acting to stop Currituck County and other places from using motel-tax money to fund police, EMS and fire services. On Tuesday the House Finance and Rules committees gutted Senate Bill 484and replaced it...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

Pay increases pressuring city and county budgets

Now that the calendar has turned to June, it’s about time for cities and counties across to start passing their budgets. Along with those, in many places, will come raises for police, firefighters and other local-government workers. In some way, shape or form, personnel costs are invariably one of the...

By Ray Gronberg

June 5, 2026

State Supreme Court sides with Currituck Co.

There’s nothing wrong with Currituck County’s decision to use some of its hotel-tax revenue to bankroll police, EMS and fire services, the N.C. Supreme Court says. County leaders have the discretion under state law to decide the summer tourist season in northeast North Carolina — when Currituck’s population basically doubles...

By Ray Gronberg

May 28, 2026

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

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