Representative Tine Votes For Tax Cuts | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    Raleigh     Rep. Paul Tine issued the following statement today:

    Today Representative Paul Tine announced that he voted for the Tax Reform Bill, House Bill 998. "I still have some concerns with this bill, but in the end I weighed the good and the bad, and felt that this bill was one that deserved my vote," said Rep. Tine.

    Several of the very controversial provisions have been removed. There will be no taxing of social security, no new limit on charitable giving, no increase on rural hospitals, no new taxes on food or medicine, and there is no expansion of sales tax beyond service contracts.

    Income tax for all tax brackets will be reduced to 5.8%. While this benefit does have greater affect for the higher income tax brackets, lower income families and individuals were helped dramatically by increasing the standard deduction from $6,000 to $15,000 if Married Filing Jointly, from $4,400 to $12,000 if filing as Head of Household, and from $3,000 to $7,000 if filing as Single. The net result is an income tax reduction for all filers.

    The bill has two provisions that were specifically noted as concerns that the representative referenced. One provision of the bill limits the mortgage deduction to $20,000. "I am adamantly opposed to this change and worked to amend this provision out of the original bill in Finance Committee," said Rep. Tine. "Homeownership and home construction are important parts of the economy in our region and anything that might hamper investment is an issue. When faced with voting on tax cuts for everyone and protecting this credit that really only affects homeowners with loans on homes that cost over $400,000, I chose to vote for the tax cuts."

    In an effort to attract out of state businesses and spur economic growth, corporate taxes were lowered slightly from 6.9% to 6% in 2014 and to 5% in 2015. In future years there will be additional cuts if revenue targets are met.

    The other provision specifically deals with Cape Hatteras Electric Co-op. In the last two days of the conference committee, a change was put in that removed the tax exempt status for the co-op resulting in a 7% tax increase on electricity for these members. "For the past 24 hours I have worked to get commitments to remove that provision through the technical corrections bill that will come before the end of session," said Representative Tine. "I have the support of the House leadership and am working with the Senate to get this fixed."

    As this provision was not in the House or the Senate version but only presented in the conference report, there was no ability to amend the bill on the floor. The only way to correct this provision is in a separate technical provisions bill.

    "This bill is not how I would design tax reform and feel we have a lot of work to do," said Tine, "but I had the opportunity to reduce taxes for the people in this district and I took it."