North Carolina voters will see three amendments on their ballot this election season. Republican state legislators added them along party lines earlier this year, and each will pass with a simple majority of the statewide vote.
One amendment would require all voters to present photo ID before voting, whether in person or by mail. It’s similar to the existing law, but it would add the requirement to the state constitution, making it harder to overturn in the future.
New Hanover County’s Democratic Chair Jill Hopman wrote to WHQR that “We already have a law requiring photo identification to vote by mail. This amendment is redundant and unnecessary.”
However, the county’s Republican Party Chair John Hinnant said this requirement isn’t an unnecessary burden, “they're giving away photo IDs now, so there's no expense preventing people from getting one.”
In general, this voter ID debate falls along partisan lines, with many Democrats saying photo ID requirements are a ploy to hamper people’s ability to vote while Republicans say this ensures the integrity of the voting process.
The other two amendments concern tax policies. One would allow the legislature to require limits on local property tax increases — although notably, it doesn’t designate what that limit would be. The General Assembly would set those limits if the amendment passes.
The other amendment would cap the state income tax at 3.5%, down from the current 7% ceiling set in 2018. The current 3.99% rate is slated to drop by a half-percent each year through 2028, going to 3.49% in 2027 and 2.99% in 2028.
Rebecca Trammel is a public education advocate and leader of #IAMLeandro, a group that supports the Leandro remedial plan, which would have put billions of additional dollars into public education.
“So now I think the play is that we are going to reduce our tax base or our tax revenue so substantially that it's impossible to fulfill the constitutional right that we already have to a sound basic education,” she said.
Trammel added that this potential loss of revenue might mean that infrastructure investments will suffer — and funding public education will suffer even more.
“I think it just comes down to we need to be responsible and informed as taxpaying citizens, and aware of what is an investment and what is truly a cost and what is truly a savings, and I think that these tax cuts are not going to benefit us as much personally as we think,” Trammel said.
When the legislature passed the amendment measures for the midterm ballot, Republican Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger wrote, “North Carolina is an economic powerhouse, thanks in part to the tax reform of the Republican-led General Assembly has implemented over the last decade,” adding “as our tax rate continues to go down, it’s appropriate for the citizens to have a say in setting the maximum income tax rate.”
Republican House Majority Leader Destin Hall wrote of the amendment setting the limit for local governments, “Property taxes are out of control, and some local governments are abusing their power by overtaxing and underdelivering for their constituents. It’s time for real reform.”
Jordyn Zimmerman is an organizer with New Hanover for All, a local chapter of the statewide organization, Carolina Federation. She said these tax policy amendments could limit the ability to raise much-needed funds for public services.
“So I can understand why immediately people are thinking, ‘Oh, I'm going to save money with these amendments,’ but when we start talking about the billions of dollars that are going to be lost, we know that those pay for healthcare services, improvements to schools, [adding] teachers,” Zimmerman said.
She said she understands that no politician wants to say they want to raise taxes but, “hopefully, there are politicians out there that want to look out for the future of North Carolina and are seeing the long-term impact, and they want to look out for everyday people working in North Carolina, and not just keep on sending the millions of dollars back to people who already have the millions of dollars.”
Hinnant said the amendments on tax policy are not a mandate to cut taxes — but a tool to limit the amount they can increase.
He cited concerns surrounding the recent City of Wilmington property tax increase of 16.3%. However, he acknowledges that a minimal increase may be needed at times.
“I think as a community grows, parts of your government, particularly core services, have to grow: police, fire, trash. If your schools are growing, you got to add teachers, and so I think that's a valid concern,” he said. “I think that there is a reasonableness among the General Assembly that would say, ‘Well, your population's grown 14% over a decade. Absolutely, you need to raise your taxes to cover your core services.’”
Hopman, though, wrote, “The ambiguous property tax amendment does not include any specific limit. It benefits wealthy landowners and out-of-state commercial developers at the expense of working families by restricting local governments’ ability to set their own progressive tax rates.”
On the issue of future state revenues because of the income tax limit amendment, Hinnant added, “Businesses continue to move to the state. Revenue from that tax on those jobs is helping sustain the state. And I think we're going to see continued prosperity.”
However, Hopman wrote, “The income tax amendment would benefit the highest earners and cost counties over $18B in state funding per year. This will inevitably decrease budgets for schools, law enforcement, natural disasters, and emergency services. Even the former Republican majority leader thinks this is a horrible policy.”
Hinnant responded to claims that the state tax limit will benefit the wealthy.
“It's helping anybody with a job that pays taxes. It treats everybody the same. It's as fair and equitable as it can get. [...] If you're going to raise taxes, you're going to hurt affordability,” Hinnant said.
Support for the amendments falls more or less along partisan lines among Republican and Democratic candidates running for office in the Cape Fear region.
Progressives and liberals typically advocate against voting for the three amendments.
“The bottom line is that these amendments allow Raleigh to dictate how New Hanover County spends our money. Democrats also hate raising taxes, but we do believe in governing responsibly—and these amendments will, in fact, only damage our residents in the end. We urge everyone to vote against all three,” Hopman wrote to WHQR.
Conservatives typically want approval of them.
“I'm finding that the people I'm talking to are highly supportive of [them]. I think [they’re] going to pass,” Hinnant said.
However, Democratic and Republican candidates and parties in New Hanover County agree: voters should approve the $320.5 million school bond to fund new construction and rehabilitation of the county’s public school buildings.
The tax increase for the school bond, Hinnant said, “represents about $5 per 100,000 in value of your home, and so we can skip your latte once every other month, and we'll be good to go.”
If the amendments pass, they will become a part of the North Carolina Constitution. To reverse those decisions, the legislature would have to put new amendments back on the ballot for voters to approve or call for a constitutional convention.
