Seal of North Carolina North Carolina

North Carolina has a statutory spending limit under North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 143C, Section 4-6, The statute places a limit on general fund operating budget to 7% of total state personal income. It exempts appropriations for capital expenditures and one-time expenditures. Because this is statutory, the TEL can be overridden by a simple majority vote.

 
The base year represents the year the hypothetical Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) would have been enacted. Selecting a base year changes how the state’s TABOR is calculated because the annual growth rates of inflation and population change depending on when TABOR is enacted.
  • Year Inflation-adjusted Actual Spending
    1992 18,947,580,000
    1993 20,352,840,000
    1994 23,355,850,000
    1995 23,885,680,000
    1996 22,440,490,000
    1997 24,378,140,000
    1998 25,740,990,000
    1999 27,239,540,000
    2000 28,342,800,000
    2001 28,302,250,000
    2002 28,793,230,000
    2003 28,823,930,000
    2004 29,648,170,000
    2005 32,698,050,000
    2006 31,747,840,000
    2007 35,747,630,000
    2008 36,808,800,000
    2009 38,972,160,000
    2010 37,584,960,000
    2011 38,175,400,000
    2012 40,012,170,000
    2013 33,545,200,000
    2014 33,003,060,000
    2015 33,394,290,000
    2016 33,970,060,000
    2017 35,390,810,000
    2018 33,599,730,000
    2019 35,159,610,000
    2020 37,944,800,000
*All spending figures are in inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars.