New poll: North Carolinians overwhelmingly oppose eliminating corporate income tax

Last month the North Carolina Senate passed a bill that would eliminate the corporate state income tax over five years, beginning in 2024.

New polling, released Thursday by progressive policy group State Innovation Exchange, (SiX) shows North Carolina voters overwhelmingly oppose such a change.

The poll, of 800 registered voters in the state via telephone and online between July 6 and July 11, found 66 percent against completely eliminating the state income tax.

That view held across the political spectrum with 59 percent of Republicans opposing the change, 74 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Independents. Of those who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, 58 percent opposed the change. Among supporters of President Joe Biden, 76 percent were opposed.

“It’s something we saw across the board, across parties,” said Nida Allam, state director for SiX. “People want to see more investment within North Carolina communities. They don’t want to see corporate taxes being eliminated.”

Allam, who is also a Durham County Commissioner, said the polls shows North Carolinians realize the impact that could have on investment in public education, infrastructure and essential services.

TargetSmart, the firm that conducted the poll, has done similar surveys in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota. Ben Lazarus, the company’s director of research solutions, said the polling on this issue appears to be consistent across the states.

“It happens to be one of these rare circumstances where it’s really bad policy and really bad politics,” Lazarus said.

In North Carolina, Lazarus said, respondents strongly opposed cutting the corporate income tax whether they were told the annual five-billion-dollar cost or not.  Sixty-eight percent of respondents who were informed of the cost opposed it, as did 66 percent of those not given the information.

“The polling shows that people want to see that money put into schools, roads, a lot of other good things that help working people,” Lazarus said. “They don’t want to see corporate taxes cut.”

See the  poll results, including information about methodology, here.