(The Center Square) – Property tax reform options will be examined and recommendations made by a 10-member committee of the Senate in North Carolina.
Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, the president pro tempore, chose Appropriations Committee Cochairmen Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, and Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, to lead the group. Policy proposals “to rein in runaway property tax practices being implemented across the state” are expected to come forth in the short session year ahead.
“There’s no difference to taxpayers whether a tax is paid to the state or to a local government; it’s all money coming out of their pockets,” Berger said. “These members will examine ways to provide relief from local taxes while ensuring that local revenue is used responsibly to fund core services our constituents rely on.”
Sens. Dave Craven, R-Randolph, and Tom McInnis, R-Moore, are cochairmen of the Finance Committee and a part of the panel. Others are Sens. Lisa Barnes, R-Nash; Jim Burgin, R-Harnett; Steve Jarvis, R-Davidson; Chris Measmer, R-Cabarrus; Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson; and Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston.
Densely populated counties like Wake and Orange have had property taxes rise in recent years. Others with less population, like Northampton, have higher rates in comparison to income and home prices.
Berger, choosing a team spread from Murphy to Manteo though without any of the chamber’s 20 Democrats, is in his 13th term and has been president pro tempore since Republicans gained a majority in the 2010 midterms. Tax policy has been central to the changes in the state, inclusive of population and economic growth.
For 2026, the individual income tax has dropped to 3.99% from 4.25%, and the corporate rate to 2.25% from 2.5%. In 2010, when Republicans took majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time in 140 years since Reconstruction, North Carolinians were on an individual income tax system with rates of 6%, 7% and 7.75%, with potential for a surtax on higher earners, and businesses had a corporate income tax rate of 6.9%.
In turn, North Carolina’s population has grown by 756,000 people over the last five years, a 7.2% increase, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau numbers.
The state grew from 10.4 million on April 1, 2020, to an estimated 11,197,968 on July 1,2025, according to the new estimates. That’s a pace to reach more than 11.9 million at the 2030 census.
Berger’s release said in part, “These transformative changes were made possible through responsible budgeting at the state level. Senate Republicans believe the same principles can help address the rising burden of local property taxes.”
