Forecast: North Carolina expects $3B-plus surplus this year

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina state government is on track to see a double-digit percentage increase in revenues by the end of the fiscal year compared to the total that legislators used in fashioning this year’s budget, according to a report released Wednesday. Roy Cooper’s state budget office projects that the state will take in $33.76 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30. That’s $3.25 billion, or 10.7%, above the $30.51 billion anticipated when the current state budget law was enacted last summer, according to a forecast summary provided by the Office of State Budget & Management. The forecast summary says revenues continue to grow thanks to “persistently high corporate profits,” a smaller-than-expected decline in individual income tax collections and “resilient consumer spending,” which affects sales taxes. “I hope we can negotiate a bipartisan budget that makes these investments without more tax breaks for the wealthiest among us,” Cooper said in a news release, adding that the surplus funds “are needed desperately to pay our teachers more, fund our schools, provide quality child care for parents in our workforce and to pay for the tax cuts for working families that we put in place last year.” While Senate leader Phil Berger said separately that the “forecast confirms that North Carolina’s tax policies are fueling economic growth,” he preached caution in preparing the next budget.