Pat McCrory raised my taxes

by | Apr 8, 2015 | Editor's Blog, Tax Reform | 44 comments

North Carolina Republican Party executive director Todd Poole told reporters, “Gov. McCrory signed historic tax reform into law which puts more money into the pocketbooks of working North Carolinians as well as small businesses.” But that’s just not true. This year, I’m paying almost twice as much in state taxes as I did last year because I run a small business.

This year, the GOP repealed a tax break on the first $50,000 of income for small businesses. For people like me, that increase hit hard. I’m still struggling to recover from the Great Recession and seeing my tax bill go up by more than $2,500 hurts.

Republicans argue that they implemented the tax break to help businesses during the recession so it’s not really a tax increase. Well, it is if you’re paying it. My accountant, a Republican who works with small businesses, said that most of his clients saw an increase in state taxes this year.

The GOP also ended the earned income a tax credit, raising taxes on the working poor. They also eliminated the medical expense deduction effectively raising taxes on people, especially seniors, who had major medical bills last year. The paltry reduction in the actual tax rate for most North Carolinians was offset by the increases elsewhere.

The only people who really benefited from the tax cuts were the wealthiest citizens. A person making $250,000 saves almost $5,000 under the GOP plan. Any way they want to slice it, small businesses and working families are subsidizing the tax cuts for the rich.

Like hundreds of thousands of small business people in North Carolina, I’m paying more in state income taxes. Pat McCrory and the GOP raised taxes on small businesses and middle class families. Period.

44 Comments

  1. shawn watts

    My wages have not changed, I’m just paying an extra grand a year in taxes! Incredible more of an outcry isn’t happening. They have eliminated allowances, including yourself and children! (on your nc-4 form).
    However, my allowances didn’t change at all.. (They tell you to claim 0). I’ve always claimed 1 allowance, something I’ve done since I moved here 20 years ago. I claimed 1 then and still claim 1 allowance ( because my spouse makes under 5 grand and can be claimed), basically nothing changed on my nc-4 as far as allowances are concerned and now I’m paying $1000 dollars more a year in state taxes since this new tax law went into effect in 2014!

  2. don

    voting against any that were in office when my taxes went up last couple of years. anyone, don’t even care if they had nothing to do with the law. why take a chance.

  3. Frederick Foell

    I have a small construction business. I have struggled for the past 7 years to keep a good credit rating. I guess it really means nothing since I lost all of my retirement and getting absolutely no help from my represenitavies, The banks are doing well with me for the past 7 years but I have nothing to look forward to. What is fair in this? Why did I try to do things right? I guess I am just an idoit! It will not go on unless I get some relief. I guess I will have to do bankruptcy just to get retirement which I think in my mind will not be the right recourse.

    Fred Foell

  4. Erik Johnson

    My state taxes went up this year. Thanks for nothing, republicans.

  5. Helen Glenn

    VERY ANGRY!!! I am a retired person earning $399 after 27 years of service and $1390 SS total of $1800/month with a mortgage of $609/month. They did away with medical expense deduction, they did away with the $2000 exemption on retirement pensions. My medical expenses are substantial. I can not maintain my home without a PT job and I am 68 years old and tired of working. Also, I have to rent a room in my house. All to allow me to live in my home. I can not believe they do this to people as myself. In 2013, I received a refund. In 2014 I paid over $200 taxes, in 2015, I am loosing 1 hour of pay each week for additional taxes to be deducted from my PT job just to break even on N.C. taxes at the end of 2015. THIS IS AN ATROICTY AND AN EMBARASEMENT TO N. C.!!!!! Older people with such low income should not be treated this way.

  6. Edward de Bary

    My comment is simple. My tax rate jumped to more than 35% from 2013 to 2014 due to the change in medical deductions. I have a lot of friends who have experienced similar and higher increases. The BIG tax people are the republicans. And they still believe in “trickle down economics” which is better defined as “squeezing from the bottom up.”

  7. Keith Thomson

    My increased taxes should go to pay teachers more, not to transfer wealth to already successful individuals and corporations.

  8. JoP

    Please allocate state funding to raise the wages of North Carolina Public School teachers and staff. Thank you.

  9. Hugh Franklin

    Ms. Campbell is correct and that’s only one of the millions of our citizens who clearly see the simple facts – our taxes went up. For the “anonymous” posts argue the Republicans were only setting right an unfair tax break given in 2011 to small businesses is not only illogical, it’s just plain crass. As crass as a matter of fact, as titling HB 998 “AN ACT TO SIMPLIFY THE …TAX STRUCTURE AND …REDUCE INDIVIDUAL AND BUSINESS TAX RATES.”

    An excellent analysis of the tax bill has been done by Eugene Chianelli, Jr. of the Higgins Frankstone law firm in Chapel Hill, who represented the leadership in drafting the bill. It was done soon after the passage of the bill for presentation to the NC Bar. It is based on the actual language in the bill and is a clear and well organized analysis. An objective review of the entire document clearly demonstrates the effect of the tax changes to be a transfer of wealth from lower income owners to higher income earners of at least $455 Million for tax year 2014 and increasing each year to $590 Million per year by 2019.

    Ms. Campbell is paying her part.

  10. Joanne Campbell

    I am a senior citizen, pushing 80, with an income of less than 17,000. a year, out of which I have a mortgage, utilities, medical expenses (yes I have medicare) although I do have to make co–payments and have to pay for asthma medication. In tax year I paid state taxes in the amount of $50.00, For #2014 taxes, I have to pay $214.00, which is not something I can afford, necessarily/ We need to rally more people to the polling stations and boot these people out.

    • Art Leonard

      Your not the only one Ms. Campbell. As a family of 5 that earn around 50K a year, our taxes went up by $500 this year. And we were counting on a small refund like last year!! Doing away with the NC personal exemption allowance is really hurting struggling families.

  11. Fred Walker

    Unless the 16th Amendment is repealed all talk of controlling taxation is just that, talk.
    Our current failed Federal Income Tax was established as a flat tax in 1913. Most State Taxes are based on the failed Federal model. Check out the history of the U.S. Income Tax. The ONLY reason taxation was kept under control before 1913 was the original wording of the U.S. Constitution.

    The original U.S. Constitutions’ control of taxation was, and is a fine example of equal and fair taxation! The controlling principle of all taxation was to require taxation to be equally applied to every State & Citizen. This also required Government to live within its means. The 16th Amendment destroyed that ideology / restriction.

    The (original) Constitution of the United States Preamble:

    Section 9

    No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

    This equal tax ideology was repealed by the powers granted in the 16th Amendment which were mistaken, misguided and absolute!

    Amendment 16 – Status of Income Tax Clarified.
    Ratified 2/3/1913.

    The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

    In short the Government can take everything you have under the guise of an Income Tax, Sales Tax, Property Tax, Fee or Stamp. The Government controls the power of definition, therefore the Government can define Income and other direct or indirect taxes as it wishes. The Government controls the power of application therefore it can apply these taxes to some of the Citizenry while not applying it to others.  Equality & fairness have nothing to do with Our current failed tax system.

    I support the only Tax related Bill before Congress that calls for elimination of the 16th Amendment, HR:25 The Fair Tax Bill.

    However, I have come to believe the only hope We have is through the use of Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution. Federal Representatives and Senators will never do anything that reduces their power or control. They have kept HR:25 locked up in the Ways & Means Committee for over 9 years! 

    It is incumbent on the States & Citizens to stand up to the tyranny of the Federal Government using Article 5. Please support and help promote the Convention of States Project, http://www.cosaction.com/?recruiter_id=97567 or http://www.conventionofstates.com.  It is not to late for We the People to regain control of Our Government.

    • hugh

      I also support the fair tax bill. Most people complain but complain is all they do. While a fair tax is not perfect, it is the best solution offered. As far as politics, we need a third party. Not enough completion.

  12. Apply Liberally

    And I am on a limited income. And my total state taxes went up whereas my total income did not. And I just found out that I owe the state more on my income taxes this year than last. And my electric bills are now higher, due to that new state tax added on my Duke-E bills by the GOP. Hear me, “Poster-also-known-as-Okay”?

  13. Barbara

    As senior citizens, we were stripped of senior deductions and pension exclusions, as well other deductions. Even more critical was the elimination of the medical deduction. We entered this year’s numbers into last year’s form for comparison and discovered that this year’s state income taxes are 73% higher than last year’s. 73%!!! Unbelievable.

  14. Doug

    As a good rich liberal you should be glad to pay your fair share.

  15. Russ Becker

    The comment made by one Communist economist to another regarding an issue also holds true for present Republicans: “But Comrade, it may work fine in practice, but how does it stand up in theory?”

  16. Dan R

    How this is interpreted in the comments section of a blog is not what’s important. How voters interpret it in the voting booth may have significant consequences.

    Without arguing policy or the politics of a single particular issue I believe that one thing is clear. The modern iteration of the Republican Party is the most highly ideological of any American political party I have seen in my lifetime. And I am getting old.

    Modern Republicans often remind me of the Communists in the old Soviet Union. They have rigid ideological beliefs that are far more important to them than solving an actual problem at hand or formulating sound public policy for the long term. And if any facts conflict with there ideology they either invent new “facts” of their own that fit their ideology and preconceived notions or they deny the existence of those facts. Even to the point of forbidding state agencies to measure the inconvenient facts so that they can’t even be evaluated in a way that might prove inconvenient.

    They really stepped on it with this idiotic tax “reform” though. The mass of regular North Carolinians who aren’t highly tuned in to the many outrageous things the Republicans in Raleigh have been up to can easily understand this one. They get it. Regular folks have been screwed in an obvious tangible way. Their pockets have been picked and their money redistributed to other people who are far better off than they are.

    The Orwellian language the Republicans use regarding other issues in order to obscure their true motivations or what they are actually doing won’t work with this one. You can tell everybody you cut their taxes, but when they just wrote a much bigger check thanks to your “reform” they know you are blowing smoke up their butt. Either that or you are stupid enough to believe the magical thinking dictated by your crazy ideology.

    Voters may also notice the revenue shortfall accompanying the tax increase the Republicans just socked them with. It’s hard to imagine this making them anxious to vote more Republicans into office.

    Are these guys hoping we’re all masochists who will want to be hit in the head by them again?

  17. Richard Dideriksen

    In our fixed income household, we two, retired, NC educators have now had our pocket officially picked by GOP legislators as we write a check to complete our taxes. Meanwhile, the NC Wealth tax rate cut is nearly 10 times ours (1.95% vs 0.2%). We’re paying $1256.00 More in NC taxes this year. We’re not alone.

    • TY Thompson

      The good news is that you won’t be paying any IT if Senator Rucho has his way and eliminates the State IT altogether.

  18. Maurice Murray III

    The EITC helped keep poor families above the federal poverty level and was a tax credit for those spending money to work. The NC GOP also implemented a sales tax on mobile and modular homes and a privilege tax on admission tickets to ball games and movies (House Bill 998). These tax adversely increase affect the middle class and working poor.
    http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3474

  19. eric prouty

    You should have purchased a yacht. They’d love you then.

  20. Cheryl Malaguti

    They did nothing to help this “working family”. We qualify for the EIC on our federal return but will be paying the state this year. It’s hard to know which talking point we light up for the GOP at any given moment. My husband is both a former Marine and retired from the NCNG (not getting the retirement pay since he’s too young) *and* a corrections officer, so he checks off both the veteran and the law & order yammering boxes, but he’s also a filthy leech of a state government employee.

  21. Keith Thomson

    Even stranger position for a Republican to take: “tax cuts” = paying more taxes to offset tax cuts for high income individuals and already successful corporations.

  22. Dick Heidgerd

    A fair answer to the tax deduction issue would be that all persons not pay state taxes who earn $50,000 or less. To replace that tax loss, those earing more than $50,000 would pay more or reduce all government spenidng. But now, government spending is the same or more and no one gets the low income tax break. Paradoxically, with the “tax break,” those earning less than $50,000 pay more and those earing much more than $50,000 pay less. That result just does not make any sense.

  23. Frank McGuirt

    Republicans, regardless of what they claim help the wealthy and big business, the rest is just smoke and mirrors. Period.

    • Laurel Colton

      Smoke and mirrors adds up to North Carolina is on shakier ground economically than the rest of the country. More people below the poverty level due to 1 in 4 jobs being low-wage jobs; higher unemployment; more people without health care; fewer H.S. or GED educated people;and very low numbers in early education. This also means more people do not have the ability to have a more secure future. We are still waiting for McCrory’s Carolina Comeback. Frank McGuirt is correct. Period.

  24. Strange position for a Democrat to take

    If a small business owner, a veteran teacher, and an employee of a Triangle tech firm each make $50,000 in income during a given year, why should the small business owner have no income tax liability while the other two pay the normal rate? That position is perhaps defensible during the midst of a severe downturn, when the unemployed might start a small business or work contract gigs in order to make ends meet. But we are now in the midst of a decent labor market recovery. Why should you get the better tax rate and force the rest of us to pay more?

    • Thomas Mills

      I’m not arguing whether it’s right or wrong. I’m just telling you that the Republicans thought it was a good idea and now that they think it’s a bad idea, I’m paying more in taxes. That’s called a tax increase. That’s the way voters think.

      • That's a dodge

        For someone who “isn’t arguing whether it’s right or wrong,” it’s a bit strange that you titled the article “Pat McCrory raised my taxes” and spend most of the article lamenting the death of the tax break. .Right now, the piece tries to have it both ways.You refuse to say the credit was a good idea from Republicans that decreased your taxes for several years and that they were wrong to reverse course. It would be interesting to hear a liberal argument for what is essentially a supply-side tax break. You also don’t say that while you always thought the break was bad policy, and support this single isolated part of tax reform (while opposing the package as a whole), voters that pay more this year are going to punish Republicans.

        Intellectually honest discourse helps everyone understand the issues better-but if you’re just arguing expedient positions in order to help “Team Blue,” this article helps no one.

        • Thomas Mills

          Nope. I’m telling the truth. Pat McCrory and the GOP legislators ran around screaming that they were giving everybody a tax break that “puts more money into the pocketbooks of working North Carolinians as well as small businesses.” It took more out of my pocket. It took more money away from the working poor and it took away from people who had high medical expenses. I’m not arguing about the policy (though I think it’s bad policy also). I’m arguing about the politics. That’s something your side has had a difficult time differentiating.

          • Okay

            You offer no proof that small business owners and working people are actually paying more taxes as a class. (And before you post it, we can trade JLF vs. Justice Center links all day.) Anecdote is not data-I’m not a high earner by any means and I’m paying less in taxes this year due to the increased standard deduction.

            As for the politics of taxes, Democrats are at a strategic disadvantage because they consistently are in favor of higher revenue streams, and are generally perceived to be more in favor of higher taxes, period. They lost the NCGA majority in the wake of regressive sales tax hikes. “Your side of the aisle” doesn’t have a credible messenger to make the argument.

          • Thomas Mills

            About 900,000 people lost their EITC. North Carolina is the only state in the nation to repeal that tax credit. I think that’s 900,000 people who will also get hit harder by the regressive sales taxes imposed on things like haircuts. The business tax credit will hit about 460,000 small businesses. While some will benefit from the lower income tax rate (the wealthy ones), a large portion will see their taxes go up. The GOP said that it was putting more money in people’s pockets. It’s taking more out of low and middle income households.

          • Amy Tyler

            A teacher of employee does not pay all the monies in to their own social security and Medicare tax, only half. Small businesses pay 100% of that plus income tax. No one said small businesses shouldn’t have to pay anything…but teachers and employees are apples in “strange position” ‘s equation and small business owners are the oranges. Heck, teachers don’t even pay all of their own retirement!

      • Jimmie

        Did you write any articles about how wonderful the politicians were who implemented the $50,000 business income exclusion a couple of years ago? Did you write any articles telling people how much money you were saving in taxes on your 2012 tax return?

        • Thomas Mills

          Nope. I’m just writing that this year me and whole a lot of other middle class families are paying more in state taxes, a direct contradiction to what Pat McCrory and the GOP promised.

          • Jimmie

            To be surprised that you were lied to by a politician indicates that you were naïve enough to believe what one told you to begin with. Surely you know better than that…

          • Thomas Mills

            Not surprised, just calling them on it.

        • Scooter

          Jimmie, this hasn’t effected my business until this year, are you saying that it was put into place a few years ago and only went into effect this year?

    • Lan Sluder

      For one thing, the Republican’ts in Raleigh claim they are “big supporters of small businesses” (presumably this is why they introduced the tax break originally for tax year 2012) yet now they have raised taxes $5,000 for tax year 2014 and in the years to come on me and my wife (we’re both professionals/small business owners). This is probably the biggest tax increase in NC history.

      For another, teachers and employees of tech firms, while making valuable contributions to the state, don’t generate new jobs for North Carolinians, except indirectly over time.

      Third, the vast majority of new jobs in NC are created by small businesses, which get hit with the new tax, while large companies in NC, which with a few exceptions don’t create many new jobs or are still laying off North Carolina workers, got big Republican’t tax breaks.

      Fourth, if the tax credit for small businesses was a good idea for the 2012 tax year, when the Great Recession officially had been over for a couple of years, why isn’t it a good idea for the 2014 tax year? There’s no rhyme or reason to that, at a time when wealthy Carolinians and big businesses are getting huge tax breaks.

      Fifth, I think it’s one part of the plan by the Legislature to turn North Carolina into the Mississippi of the South.

      • Rofl

        Got it. You’re a ‘job creator’ so you should pay less in taxes than someone with the exact same disposable income. Teachers should have to pay more than you because education doesn’t create jobs. I think there might be a spot open for you on Mitt Romney’s PR team.

        • Shawn Peticos

          Why should big corp get all the breaks they dont need it small business firts million should be tax free. Big corp pay hardly any tax

    • Scooter

      We can’t afford increasing the minimum wage, they say. We (and you) subsidize the public assistance Wal-mart and fast food workers have to draw, because they “can’t afford to raise the minimum wage”. So, increase the burden on small businesses, the “real” job creators, according to the right, making it a.) that much more impossible to increase the minimum wage and b.) to hire, PERIOD!

      The Republicans were supposed to be all about small business. Mine just took a HUGE hit, as did my household as a single parent with a child and medical expenses. It’s counter productive to the supposed “free market can fix the problem” mantra. They just made it harder for us small businesses to employ people because we just got a HUGE increase in our bottom line. The first $50,000 of ANY business is garbage. That’s enough to cover two small salaries, MAYBE. It’s ignorant.

    • Zin

      Small business owners have expenses. You just work and get paid.

Related Posts

GET UPDATES

Get the latest posts from PoliticsNC delivered right to your inbox!

You have Successfully Subscribed!