A North Carolina House of Representatives Committee is exploring how to ease the burden of property taxes across the state, with members of both parties expressing concern that they are a burden on homeowners.
Speaker of the House Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican, formed the House Select Committee on Property Tax Reduction and Reform earlier this month. It met for the first time Wednesday.
Hall and other lawmakers are worried that property taxes are rising amid broader concerns about affordability and home ownership.
Rep. Erin Paré, a Wake County Republican, said she is worried that tax increases are pushing older people out of their homes while also making them difficult for young people to afford.
"I hear all the time about how rising property taxes are pushing seniors in Wake County out of their home in their golden years. Eighty, ninety years old, they can’t afford their property taxes in the home that they worked so hard to buy and live in for 50-some years. These property taxes have also priced new homebuyers out of the market," Paré said.
Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, told WUNC this week that he believes the issue of rising property taxes merits "a hard look" but that lawmakers must be careful to avoid hurting local governments.
"Property taxes are not paid to the state. They're paid to counties and cities. And if we're going to pass laws that impact what local governments can do in terms of raising revenue to to meet their local service needs, then we have to make sure that we're holding them harmless," Stein said in an interview.
Hall tasked the committee with considering the expansion of existing property tax exemptions, considering whether to alter how home revaluations work and also taking a look at how increased property taxes are impacting local government spending, including whether they are taking on higher levels of debt.
Local governments use property taxes to pay salaries for their employees, including firefighters and law enforcement, and provide other services. And like everyone else, those governments are grappling with inflation.
A property tax bill is tied to a home's value, and North Carolina homes have seen their value soar in recent years.
N.C. General Assembly staff reported Wednesday that the average home price in North Carolina was 3.2 times the median income in 2015. By 2024, it was five times the median income.
That's an increase from about $150,000 to about $330,000. In other words, even if property taxes remained the exact same as a decade ago, bills would have increased significantly.
Over roughly the same period, North Carolina saw significant growth in its older population, in part due to its own natural growth but also because of people moving here from out of state.
Between 2013 and 2023, the population of North Carolinians between zero and 19 years old increased by less than five percent, staff said, while the number of people between 65 and 84 years old increased by about 40%.
Rep. Carla Cunningham, a Charlotte Democrat, said she thinks older people should be able to age in the homes they have always lived in rather than needing to move into assisted living.
"A lot of people feel it but they won't say it: We feel like we're being taxed to death, we really do," Cunningham said.
That sentiment was later echoed by Rep. John Blust, a Guilford County Republican, who said that upon inspecting his own mortgage statement, he realized he is paying about $350 a month in property taxes. That amount, he said, raised questions about whether he is the true owner of the home.
"Who really owns that property if enforcers can come along and foreclose on me and kick me out of the house if I don't pay them this money and the county can sit there and decide next year we're going to make you pay a lot more and there's nothing anybody can do about it?" Blust said.
The committee only heard presentations that laid the groundwork on Wednesday, including gaining an understanding of how property taxes work in North Carolina, how the money is used and what exemptions already exist.
There were no specific policy approaches vetted or discussed in detail.
Rep. Brian Echevarria, a Cabarrus County Republican, did suggest that North Carolina should look to Nebraska for inspiration. That state has capped how much local governments can increase property taxes each year, something Echevarria said he believes could offer a path forward for North Carolina.
"We have proof of concept, so our risks are greatly mitigated when considering some of these programs," Echevarria said.
