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 18,841,869,810
    1993 20,298,996,150
    1994 23,339,482,600
    1995 24,064,314,460
    1996 22,805,719,010
    1997 24,956,109,210
    1998 26,472,089,220
    1999 28,323,451,340
    2000 29,701,732,990
    2001 29,872,953,150
    2002 30,413,836,440
    2003 30,454,289,960
    2004 31,458,846,780
    2005 34,737,578,330
    2006 34,085,800,900
    2007 38,318,006,450
    2008 39,918,180,350
    2009 42,032,177,290
    2010 40,492,074,080
    2011 41,508,635,590
    2012 43,465,265,170
    2013 36,613,983,440
    2014 36,176,869,370
    2015 36,538,776,210
    2016 37,136,879,010
    2017 38,743,698,180
    2018 37,095,006,300
    2019 41,207,125,050
    2020 39,369,693,110
    2021 39,388,769,640
    2022 38,316,000,000
*All spending figures are in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars.