The North Carolina General Assembly gave its overwhelming approval yesterday to a $23 billion state budget that, among other things, increases education investments by more than $700 million, raises teacher pay for the fourth consecutive year, provides needed disaster relief to communities affected by Hurricane Matthew, helps lower-income people by further expanding the state’s zero-tax bracket, and adds $363.9 million to the state’s savings reserve account. […]
Legislation passed the House overwhelmingly last month that will help stimulate commerce and job creation for coin dealers and those in the Precious Metals trade. House Bill 434 updates current sales tax laws to allow for the exemption from sales taxes for the commercial sales of gold and silver bullion and coins. Included in the exemption is the […]
Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) held a joint press conference Monday to announce details of the roughly $23 billion budget and tax relief agreement reached between the state House and Senate. As a result of responsible budgeting decisions, millions of middle-class families and job-creating small businesses will keep more […]
The North Carolina House of Representatives released highlights of its balanced budget proposal for the 2017-2018 biennium on Thursday, submitting a plan that continues to advance successful government investment strategies contributing to revenue surpluses, rainy day reserves, rapid economic and population growth this decade. The budget highlights released on Thursday were provided to area appropriations subcommittees […]
From the Triangle Business Journal: There will be no sharing of Site Selection magazine’s Prosperity Cup title this year. In its May issue, released Thursday, North Carolina took first place for the 2017 award. Formerly known as the Top Competitive State award, North Carolina had tied with Texas for the top spot in 2016 after having […]
50 million tourists spent $23 billion in North Carolina last year, an all-time high, according to a new report by the U.S. Travel Association. These tourism dollars supported 45,000 small businesses, 218,340 jobs, and generated $3.6 billion in taxes. And much of that spending was undoubtedly linked to outdoor recreation; figures also released today by the Outdoor Industry Association show that in 2016, outdoor […]
With an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 109 to 8, the North Carolina House yesterday afternoon passed the “BRIGHT Futures Act” (House Bill 68) to accelerate the build-out of digital infrastructure in rural and other underserved areas of our state. Representative McGrady co-sponsored the bill. The goal is to bring greater economic prosperity to more folks by way of a […]
The following article was written by Matt Caulder and is reproduced from yesterday’s NC Capitol Connection: Both the House and the Senate have put forward tax cut plans for the coming biennial budget. The competing plans will be discussed in earnest as legislators work to craft a budget plan to send to the governor for […]
With The Bathroom Bill Gone, Here Are 5 Things Happening In North Carolina For The Media To Cover by Patrick Gleason Between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels beating Gonzaga to win the men’s college basketball national championship on Monday, and the North Carolina General Assembly last Thursday repealing House Bill 2, commonly referred […]
Yesterday, leaders of the House Finance Committee filed House Bill 356, “The Tax Reduction Act of 2017,” calling for another round of tax cuts for North Carolina’s families and businesses. This comprehensive legislation builds on the historic tax reforms that have stimulated the state’s rapid economic growth since 2013. House Bill 356 would once again increase North Carolina’s “standard deduction,” this time […]
The House unanimously passed a bipartisan bill on Monday, February 27 that will improve access to physical therapy services for North Carolina practitioners and patients. House Bill 57 will allow the state to recognize licensed physical therapists from other states who also enact their own compact. This bill, if passed by the Senate, will enhance […]
The N.C. Technology Association’s 2017 ‘State of Technology’ report ranked North Carolina No. 1 in the United States for IT employment growth and the percentage of women in the sector’s workforce. The report compares tech job trends across the United States between 2010 and 2015, ranking North Carolina according to key metrics such as IT […]
Guest post by John Hood Do governors and state legislators really have much to do with the performance of state economies? If governors and state legislators are to be believed, their policies are responsible for all good economic news — and rarely responsible for the bad news. It’s easy to ridicule the self-importance of politicians. […]
The following piece was written by North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell and first appeared in the North State Journal on February 8, 2016. What We’ve Done for North Carolina North Carolina was once a state that was defined by slow economic growth, high unemployment, burdensome taxes, and massive federal debt. Our great state […]
The North Carolina House of Representatives voted 110 to 3 on Wednesday to pass House Bill 7 Strengthen Savings Reserve. The legislation is part of an ongoing effort by Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly to save responsibly and prepare the state for potential emergency funding or disaster recovery needs. Representative McGrady was a […]
Once again, state government is forecasting a budget surplus flowing into its general fund for fiscal year 2016-2017 — that’s the period from July 2016 to June 2017 that the state uses for taxing and accounting purposes. This is just the latest in a string of positive budget news for state lawmakers and marks the third […]
We’re all familiar with that old saw “nothing is certain except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin wrote those words in a letter to French physicist Jean-Baptiste Leroy in late 1789, two years after the adoption of the United States Constitution and just six months before his death in the spring of 1790. And while it’s taken centuries […]
A few weeks ago, when the General Assembly called itself back into a special session following the passage of The Disaster Recovery Act of 2016, the legislature took up some important bipartisan reforms to North Carolina’s ethics, elections, and court systems. At the same time, another piece of bipartisan legislation, House Bill 17, was also passed […]
The following article is reposted from yesterday’s edition of the Raleigh News & Observer. It references a report prepared by Dr. Michael L. Walden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University. You can read the entire report here. (Note: Dr. Walden’s report concerns North Carolina’s economic […]
Guest post by John Hood North Carolina’s economy continues to outperform the national and regional averages — which is one reason why, the results of the gubernatorial election notwithstanding, the state’s policy fundamentals are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. A few days ago, the federal government released its latest estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) […]
While our friends on the left continue to complain about how conservative economic policies are holding North Carolina back, the state continues to enjoy lower unemployment and unprecedented budget surpluses. It was announced yesterday that for the first quarter (July – September) of the current (2016-17) Fiscal Year, North Carolina collected $191 million more in tax […]
Tax and budget changes likely to be modest Top GOP lawmakers say 2017 session likely to keep major reforms in place as increases in teacher compensation kick in Guest Post by Barry Smith Top legislative budget and tax writers say the N.C. General Assembly isn’t likely to tackle more extensive tax reform next year. Nor […]
Breaking a 140-year streak of one-party rule in North Carolina, in 2011 Republicans gained the majority in both chambers of the state legislature. And they went right to work implementing a whole host of pro-growth reforms which have powered an economic recovery that’s the envy of the nation. Since 2011, North Carolinians have enjoyed more […]
Since 2013, the Republican-led legislature has implemented a series of pro-growth tax reforms that have lowered everyone’s income tax rates, widened the sales tax base, tripled the standard deduction, and restructured the tax code by eliminating old-fashioned tax brackets and replacing them with a simple flat tax. In North Carolina, the result has been record […]
North Carolina’s overall debt picture has improved markedly since 2009. That’s when the Democrat-controlled General Assembly borrowed $2.75 billion from the federal government to make good on its ballooning obligation to pay unemployment benefits — benefits which Democrats extended to 99 weeks (nearly two years). But since then, the new Republican majority has completely wiped […]
Guest post by John Hood North Carolina almost made another top-10 list this year — but don’t worry, our state seems likely to make the cut in 2017. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan institute based in Washington, has long published a report called the State Business Tax Climate Index. It ranks all 50 states and […]
From the Tax Foundation’s 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index: After the most dramatic improvement in the Index’s history — from 44th to 15th in one year — North Carolina has continued to improve its tax structure, and now imposes the lowest-rate corporate income tax in the country at 4 percent, down from 5 percent […]
North Carolina’s economy continues to recover and grow at a faster and stronger rate than others in our region and in the nation as whole. NC is a national model in reforms that work. Since 2013, 300,000 net new jobs, unemployment rate cut in half, incomes up. Today’s news from the US Census about US […]