Pro-Tax Coalition Gaining Force
Chamber Fighting for Businesses at the General Assembly

As our Chamber is diligently working with lawmakers to advance pro-growth tax policies that stimulate business expansion and job creation, there is a growing anti-business coalition working fiercely to undermine economic growth and prosperity in our state. These anti-growth groups are right now pressuring lawmakers with proposals that would damage North Carolina's current business climate and competitive position in the ongoing race for jobs and commerce.

Our state Chamber recognizes that North Carolina needs to modernize its fiscal policies and tax system. Our Chamber realizes, however, that the best tax policies are those that improve North Carolina's competitive position relative to other states and lower the cost of doing business here, thereby encouraging growth from within (most new jobs are created by businesses already operating in our state).

The anti-business groups that are mobilizing to advance their idea of tax modernization hold firm to the belief that any tax decreases necessarily result in less revenue for public service funding. On the contrary, our state Chamber knows that pro-growth tax policies are necessary to continue funding essential public services.

North Carolina is one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. As our state continues to grow, state leaders and lawmakers need to ensure that we have a healthy economic base to sustain the predicted growth. The best way to generate revenue growth to meet the increasing demand for new schools and roads and other critical public services that population growth brings is to stimulate the economy and encourage capital investment and job creation by businesses.

NCFAST: Moving to Slow-Down NC's Business Climate

NCFAST is an anti-business coalition that is gaining force at the General Assembly. It is a big-spending coalition that wants to generate additional state revenue by keeping high tax rates at current levels and increasing taxes paid by businesses. Members of this coalition have submitted an anti-growth tax plan to members of the N.C. General Assembly that will greatly harm North Carolina businesses. Key parts of their proposal include:

• Maintain the High Top-Marginal Personal Income Tax Rate
  This coalition has been working to prevent North Carolina's high top-marginal personal income tax rate from decreasing next year as scheduled. The group has framed this scheduled tax decrease as a tax cut for the wealthiest North Carolinians when our state Chamber knows it's a tax on small business (many small businesses such as LLCs, sub-chapter S corporations and sole proprietorships pay personal income taxes as opposed to corporate income taxes).
      
• Force Major N.C Employers to Pay Income Tax on Income Not Attributable to North Carolina
  The coalition is also advocating a new tax policy, which would require major North Carolina companies to file a combined income tax report and potentially pay state taxes on income not attributable to North Carolina. If this proposal advances it could cost these businesses more than $200 million dollars in new taxes.

NCFAST is promising an aggressive lobbying campaign to advance their anti-business agenda. They are also gaining strength in numbers, totaling 43 groups at last count - many of them unions. Some key coalition members include AARP North Carolina; North Carolina AFL-CIO; North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE); State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) and N.C. Public Interest Research Group (NC PIRG).

State Chamber Fighting to Move NC Forward

The North Carolina Chamber has asked North Carolina businesses to identify their most pressing economic concerns and through various polls, surveys and regional meetings. North Carolina businesses of all sizes have told our Chamber repeatedly that taxes are a top concern and deterrent to investment, growth and job creation.

Our state Chamber is delivering that message to lawmakers in the General Assembly as we continue to fight for pro-growth tax polices to stimulate and sustain economic growth to ensure a prosperous future for our state and all North Carolina residents.

• Keeping Small Businesses Competitive and Providing Capital
  Investment for Expansion and Jobs Creation
  The North Carolina Chamber has long advocated competitive corporate and personal income tax rates as key to economic growth, rates that are competitive especially when compared to neighboring states. Lowering the top marginal income tax rate will benefit small businesses by providing them an opportunity to innovate, increase productivity and create new jobs.
  
  
• Maintain a Fair Tax Reporting Process
  While big-spending, anti-business groups want to force North Carolina companies to pay taxes on out-of-state business transactions to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for government programs, our state Chamber is fighting to protect and attract business invest and jobs to grow our state's revenue base. This anti-growth policy change would put our state out-of-step with all of our neighboring states and most states in our region. These types of proposals that make our state less competitive relative to other states could cost North Carolina thousands of jobs in the years ahead should they actually become law. Our Chamber continues to fight to defeat proposals such as this one that would do serious damage to our business climate.