Constitutional Amendment - Maximum Income Tax Rate of 3.5%
BALLOT LANGUAGE
WHAT IT MEANS
For
Against
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST
For
“The amendment would protect taxpayers and small businesses from significant and unpredictable income tax increases.
Today, the state constitution lets lawmakers raise the income tax as high as 7%. This amendment would cut that limit in half. The tax rate could not go higher than 3.5% unless voters pass another state constitutional amendment.” - National Federation of Independent Business
“Our tax reforms have produced more than a decade of strong revenue growth while letting people keep more of what they earn, and this amendment locks in that progress. I’m encouraging North Carolinians to vote yes in November. This is their decision to make, and it’s a chance to put a real, lasting protection in the constitution for every taxpayer in the state.” - Michael Lee, State Senator
Against
“A lower income tax cap won’t make life more affordable. It WILL lock in tax cuts for corporations, shifting costs to families.
For years, NC lawmakers have given huge income tax cuts to wealthy households and corporations while communities struggled with teacher shortages, unaffordable child care and housing, rural hospital closures, and other unmet needs. The amendment would make it even harder to get the wealthy to pay what they truly owe in taxes so we can all pool our resources to invest in our communities.” - Democracy North Carolina
"Sure it's great to lower taxes, but you're also going to stop services, you're going to slow services down, you're going to squeeze people dry. We will not be doing our essential functions as government to help the people of North Carolina. It sounds great. It sounds too good to be true, but the consequences are irreparable." - Marcia Morey, State Representative
ENDORSEMENTS
For
National Federation of Independent Business NFIB (Conservative)
Americans for Tax Reform (Conservative)
American Family Association (Conservative)
Lisa Barnes (Conservative)
Michael V. Lee (Conservative)
Against
Carolina Forward (Liberal)
Josh Stein (Liberal)
Democracy North Carolina (Liberal)
Marcia Morey (Liberal)
League of Women Voters of North Carolina (Liberal)
FINANCIAL BACKING
The following information provides insight into the money being spent to pass or defeat the ballot measure.
For
NORTH CAROLINA REDUCE INCOME TAX RATE CAP FROM 7% TO 3.5% AMENDMENT (2026)
This question is on the ballot in North Carolina as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2026. As of October 16, 2026, no committee to support the amendment has been identified. Thus, there is no record of funds raised to support the amendment.
Against
NORTH CAROLINA REDUCE INCOME TAX RATE CAP FROM 7% TO 3.5% AMENDMENT (2026)
This question is on the ballot in North Carolina as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2026. As of October 16, 2026, no committee to oppose the amendment has been identified. Thus, there is no record of funds raised to oppose the amendment.
OTHER INFORMATION
