North Carolina voters approved two tax amendments on Nov. 3. The legislature's own Fiscal Research Division said both would have "no fiscal impact." That sounds like nothing changed. It is more precise to say the money moves later, and somewhere else.
S1080: the income tax cap (Session Law 2026-4)
What it does. It lowers the constitution's income tax ceiling from 7% to 3.5%, for personal and corporate income tax, starting with tax years on or after Jan. 1, 2027, according to the enacted text. It does not set the rate itself.
The rate law is separate. The 2026 budget, Session Law 2026-41, sets the rate: 3.99% in 2026, 3.49% for 2027 through 2029, 3.24% for 2030 through 2032, and 2.99% for 2033 and 2034. After that, cuts to as low as 2.49% are possible if revenue beats set targets, according to the Fiscal Research Division's note on the budget.
The bottom line. Your tax bill falls because of the budget law, not the amendment. The amendment locks a ceiling over it: a future legislature cannot go above 3.5% without another statewide vote.
Projected payout. The fiscal note found the amendment itself has no fiscal impact, because scheduled rates were already below 3.5%. The household payout comes from the rate cuts. A single filer earning $60,000 pays about $236 less in 2027 than in 2026, by our math, before other deductions or credits. The cost side shows up as a limit in hard times: the progressive NC Budget & Tax Center estimates a 3.5% cap blocks about $17 billion a year in potential revenue, by its own estimate.
What can happen. Best case: steady growth carries revenue at lower rates, and the ceiling gives families and employers certainty. Worst case: a recession hits, the income tax cannot be raised past 3.5%, and the gap moves to sales taxes, fees or cuts.
H1089: the property tax levy limit (Session Law 2026-5)
What it does. It requires the legislature to limit how much local property tax levies can grow. A levy is the total dollars a county or city collects, not the tax rate. It sets no number, according to the enacted text and its fiscal note.
The bottom line. Nothing changes for a homeowner until the legislature writes the limit. A Senate select committee is working on it, WUNC reported.
Projected payout. The fiscal note found no fiscal impact because "the specific criteria needed to compute an estimate are not contained in HB 1089." The scale is large: counties collected $10.5 billion and cities $4.6 billion in property taxes in fiscal 2024-25, $15.1 billion combined, according to the same note. As illustration only, every percentage point of allowed levy growth is worth about $151 million a year statewide. One advocacy group, the NC Housing Coalition, modeled a 2% cap for Fortune at about $84 a year saved for the average homeowner and about $950 million less for local governments.
What can happen. Best case: a limit that counts new construction and flexes in a recession. Worst case: a flat cap that starves fast-growing counties and pushes them to sales taxes and fees.
Both sides
Sen. Michael Lee, the income tax cap's lead sponsor, told WBTV it "locks in that progress." Gov. Josh Stein called it "a con, a cynical shell game and a millionaire protection cap," Fortune reported. On the property tax limit, Donald Bryson of the John Locke Foundation told WUNC that "neither amendment automatically reduces funding for North Carolina public schools." The Cornelius town board warned it "will not reduce the need for services, but will reduce the ability for the Town to provide them effectively," WFAE reported.
What to watch
The lame-duck session and the number the Senate committee proposes for the levy limit. The state canvass on Nov. 24, when the vote becomes official. The first county budgets written under the new limit in spring 2027.