May 8, 2013. The North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (NCACPA), today launched “Tar Heel Tax Reform,” an initiative designed to alert families and businesses about the critical need for our state to modernize its tax code. NCACPA will use its new website, www.tarheeltaxreform.com, to help explain this complex issue as it is debated in the General Assembly and encourage citizens to get involved.
NCACPA is not promoting specific legislation, but is advocating for three key principles to guide the state’s tax reform efforts: reliability, transparency, and fairness.
“North Carolina’s tax code has not fundamentally changed since the 1930s—when Roosevelt was president and our state’s economy was focused on manufacturing and agriculture,” said Rollin Groseclose, NCACPA member and practicing CPA in Asheville, NC. “Modernizing our state tax code will provide revenue stability for important services, bolster job growth, and better protect our state from unplanned tax hikes and budget cuts during economic downturns.”
North Carolina has the highest personal income and corporate tax rates in the Southeast, and the 17th highest total tax burden nationally. The outdated tax code now relies heavily on personal and corporate income tax receipts, which are particularly unpredictable during economic downturns. The result in recent years has been either deep cuts in basic services or “temporary” tax increases.
“According to current forecasts, North Carolina’s tax code will not produce the revenue stream necessary to sustain our state government beyond the next three to five years,” said Jim Ahler, NCACPA CEO. “We cannot afford to wait to modernize our tax code. As the state’s ‘financial translators,’ we are introducing the Tar Heel Tax Reform initiative to make certain North Carolinians understand this issue and how critical tax reform is to us all.”
There are currently seven bills introduced in the General Assembly to reform the tax code, with many different approaches to tax reform but all echoing the call that North Carolina needs reform now. NCACPA will remain nonpartisan on the specifics of the current bills, but continue to educate North Carolinians to understand why the state needs to reform the tax code.
For more information on the Tar Heel Tax Reform campaign and to view the video overview on the tax reform issue, visit www.tarheeltaxreform.com.
About the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants
The North Carolina Association of CPAs is the only statewide association for CPAs in North Carolina. With more than 13,000 members, NCACPA promotes the competence, integrity, civic responsibility, and success of North Carolina CPAs. Founded in 1919, the association is dedicated to being the essential resource for the North Carolina CPA. For more information, please visit our website at www.ncacpa.org.