--- title: Election 2026: Democratic education superintendent says vote for higher taxes description:

(The Center Square) – Education leaders say a North Carolina ballot amendment on property tax increases by local governments and a limit on allowable state income tax should be voted down, a

canonical_url: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/north-carolina-news/election-2026-democratic-education-superintendent-says-vote-for-higher-taxes language: en-US date: 2026-10-24T00:00:01Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/north-carolina-news/election-2026-democratic-education-superintendent-says-vote-for-higher-taxes. markdown-tokens: 1147 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/north-carolina-news/election-2026-democratic-education-superintendent-says-vote-for-higher-taxes. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. (The Center Square) – Education leaders say a North Carolina ballot amendment on property tax increases by local governments and a limit on allowable state income tax should be voted down, a direct contrast to General Assembly leaders saying property values have skyrocketed after revaluations, and lower income taxes will help residents with affordability. The constitutional amendment question allowing the General Assembly to limit increases in property taxes from local governments was favored 72%-14% by 800 respondents to an Elon University Poll taken Aug. 21-31. Changing the constitution to lower the allowable state personal income tax rate from 7% to 3.5% was favored 67%-18% in the same poll. The joint statement from first-term Democratic state Superintendent Mo Green, State Board of Education Chairman Eric Davis and Vice Chairman Alan Duncan said in part, "While North Carolina's public schools are achieving historic results with their graduation rates and its students earning career and technical education credentials and passing college-level courses and exams while still in high school, more funding is needed to sustain and improve on these results so that all North Carolina public school students receive an excellent education. “Although we can appreciate a desire to limit tax burdens on North Carolinians, the proposed constitutional amendments related to the state income taxes and local property taxes are not the way to do it." The property tax amendment does not set a floor or cap; rather, it says lawmakers are to pass laws limiting how much local governments can increase total property tax revenue from year to year. It does set a “levy limit” capping growth in total dollars. Exceptions could be granted by the lawmakers. The state’s individual income tax is a flat rate of 3.99% and scheduled to continue dropping to 3.49% in 2027 and 2.99% in 2028. The amendment puts a cap of 3.5% starting in 2027. Without standard deductions or exemptions, a North Carolinian making $100,000 pays $3,990 at today’s rate. If it were to be raised back to 7%, the cost would be $7,000, or double the potential cap in 2027 would not let it exceed. “For years we’ve seen some municipal and county governments impose exorbitant tax rates on their residents with little to no regard for fiscal restraint,” said Sen. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, when his chamber passed the amendments. “At the General Assembly, we work hard to keep our spending in check so you can keep more of your hard-earned paycheck. Your local government should do the same. These property tax measures establish some commonsense safeguards to protect the taxpayers.” Asked to vote for or against, there are three amendments on the ballot. Voters will read the choices: • Constitutional amendment to keep the state income tax rate from being raised higher than three and one-half percent (3.5%). • Constitutional amendment requiring limits on property tax increases by local governments. • Constitutional amendment to require all voters, not just those presenting to vote in person, to present photo identification before voting. In the House of Representatives, Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said in part, “It’s time for real reform, and this constitutional amendment on levy limits will help stop runaway property tax hikes and protect North Carolina taxpayers." Ballots have been cast since Sept. 4. Early in-person voting started on Thursday of last week and Election Day is less than two weeks away on Nov. 3. Content Original Link: [https://www.thecentersquare.com/north\_carolina/article\_ecc8362d-50ea-4957-8358-d5c650d8bfc0.html?a](https://www.thecentersquare.com/north_carolina/article_ecc8362d-50ea-4957-8358-d5c650d8bfc0.html?a)