The Greensboro News and Record: Taxes’ Low Blows
media mention“State legislators opened their 2015 session saying they want to ease the tax burden on “regular folks.”
That will be a turnaround. “Regular folks” — those who earn moderate incomes or less — pay a larger share of their incomes in state and local taxes than do the very wealthy in North Carolina.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy issued a 50-state report last week with disturbing news: All across the country, state and local tax policy is skewed in favor of people who already have the most money. North Carolina is about average, but recent changes will make it worse.
Low- and middle-income earners pay about 9 percent of what they make in state and local taxes in North Carolina. Those in the top 1 percent pay about 5 percent.
The state income tax is still slightly progressive. The lowest 20 percent of earners pay less than 1 percent of their incomes. The middle quintile pays an average of 3.3 percent. The top 1 percent pay 4.4 percent.”