North Carolina property tax law, nicknamed the Machinery Act, contains many dozens of full or partial exemptions for property as diverse as free drug samples, uranium 233, and Loyal Order of the Moose clubhouses. This blog post attempts to identify … Read more

Nearly 200 North Carolina counties and municipalities levy occupancy taxes. Almost all of them are required to use some percentage of their occupancy tax revenues for “tourism-related” expenditures.  Last week our state courts issued their first appellate opinion examining exactly … Read more

The Machinery Act makes it clear that the “governing board” (aka the board of county commissioners or the city council) has the sole authority to appoint and remove both assessors and tax collectors. GS 105-294 and -349.   But the statutes … Read more

Imagine that the Wonka Chocolate Factory is the largest employer in your county.  They list substantial amounts of business personal property (“BPP”) for taxation every year.  In January 2023, Wonka lists BPP totaling $65,000,000, which is roughly $25,000,000 more than … Read more

The religious exemption created by G.S. 105-278.3 may produce more difficult questions than the rest of the Machinery Act combined.  This post summarizes the religious exemption’s legal requirements and tries to answer some of those thorny eligibility questions. Ownership and … Read more

Foreclosure can be an effective but potentially harsh tax collection tool for local governments. A judicious, equitable, and consistent foreclosure program can get abandoned property into the hands of more responsible owners, spur delinquent property owners to pay old tax … Read more

We had a lively discussion with experts from the School and across the appraisal world during our recent webinar focusing on tax appraisers’ entry onto private property.  (If you missed the webinar, it will shortly be available for on-demand viewing … Read more

[This post was authored by Hudson Vaughan, who recently conducted a study on racial and vertical equity in North Carolina property tax appraisals under the supervision of UNC School of Government faculty member Chris McLaughlin. Vaughan, who is a 2008 … Read more

Different tax systems play by different rules.  Just because an organization is exempt from paying federal or state income taxes does not automatically mean that organization will be exempt from paying local property taxes on its land, buildings, cars, and … Read more

Aimed primarily at new residential developments, the “builders inventory” property tax exclusion (GS 105-277.02) arrived in 2015 and is becoming more popular across the state with each passing year.  While I’ve previously blogged about the basics of this exclusion here … Read more