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A Look Ahead at North Carolina’s Tax Climate

| Tax Policy & Competitiveness

It’s no secret that North Carolina is the best state in the country for business—Forbes announced that our state had taken top billing for the third year in a row a few weeks ago. This accolade is well-deserved and stems from a variety of factors, not least of which is our favorable tax climate.

However, there’s no doubt that we still have work to do if we want to keep North Carolina competitive, especially as other states in the region and across the country keep up the fight to attract talent and job creators. For example, even while ranking the state number one overall, Forbes lists North Carolina at number four in the nation for business costs and 13th for economic climate. Last October, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation announced that our state had fallen from 12th to 15th on their 2020 State Business Tax Climate Index.

That’s why the NC Chamber will continue to fight for commonsense tax policies that bolster our strong business climate and meet the five tax principles we identified with your help: competitiveness, equity, efficiency, simplicity and certainty.

Key among our priorities this year will be reducing the burdensome and regressive franchise tax. We were disappointed that this important fix didn’t become law last legislative session and will continue to urge legislators to prioritize it in the short session this spring. Read more about the franchise tax here. Additionally, we will continue to advocate for a decoupling from the Internal Revenue Code section 163(j) that addresses the limit on interest expense deductions.

As your organization looks ahead to the new year and a new decade, will you be working on issues related to North Carolina’s tax climate or economy? If you have a moment, please fill out this quick survey and tell us about your priorities for the new year so we can continue to be a voice for you.