Earlier this week, Republican legislators unveiled their 2022-2023 state budget with a provision that dedicates revenues generated for the sales of transportation-related goods and services to the NC DOT Highway and Highway Trust Fund.
The budget calls for redirecting 2% of state sales tax revenue to the N.C. Department of Transportation in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The diversion would increase to 4% the following year and 6% each year after that. The change would generate an estimated $193.1 million for transportation the first year, increasing to an estimated $628 million by year three. That money would otherwise go into the General Fund, the nearly $28 billion that finances most of the rest of state government.
NC Moves has advocated for common-sense solutions to modernize North Carolina’s transportation revenue model. This is a positive step, but there is much more work to modernize and diversify our revenue streams to create a sustainable funding structure.
