Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are proposing to eliminate personal and corporate taxes.
The bold plan would move the tax burden to higher state sales taxes on groceries, medical expenses, and now-untaxed services such as haircuts, lawyers’ fees, and dentist visits, the
Charlotte Observer reports.
Sen. Bob Rucho said corporations would pass along savings to consumers if they paid lower taxes and compared the Tar Heel State’s economy to a “dying patient” who desperately needs treatment.
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Senate leader Phil Berger noted the state’s tax rates — a 6.9 percent corporate tax rate and a 7.75 percent personal tax rate for the highest earners — are among the highest in the region.
“It is important for us in terms of our competitive posture with other states,” Berger told the Observer. “It is important for us in terms of making sure there is a fair allocation of the cost of government.”
But economists worry low-income people would get hit the hardest in the proposed overhaul.
“For this particular proposal, the responsibility would shift from rich households and prosperous corporations to poor households and smaller businesses,” Dave Ribar, a UNC Greensboro professor , said in an analysis of the proposal.
Politicians say they now must sell the tax-reform idea to state voters.
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