Rod Powell

Questionnaire from The Gaston Business Association

What will be your priority issues in the upcoming session and how do you propose to address them?

My priorities are public schools, health care, child care, and the cost of living.

I taught school for 30 years. I’ve seen what happens when we ask teachers, bus drivers, and other school workers to keep doing more with less. I’ll fight for steady funding for public schools and better pay for the people who work in them.

I hear from parents who can’t find child care that fits their work hours, and from people who have to drive too far to get medical care. Those problems make it harder to work and harder to run a business. I’ll bring what I hear in Cleveland, Lincoln, and Gaston counties to Raleigh and work with people willing to fix it.

Voters will see three amendments on the ballot this November: 1) photo ID for all voting methods, 2) an income tax cap, and 3) a directive to limit property tax levy increases. What are your stances on each, and why?

I oppose all three.

North Carolina already requires photo ID for voting, including voting by mail, and the law provides exceptions. I don’t see a reason to put a broader requirement in the constitution. If somebody is eligible to vote, we need to make sure they can vote and have that vote counted.

I also oppose the income tax amendment. It would lower the maximum rate allowed by the constitution from 7% to 3.5%. That’s a ceiling, not the rate people pay today. If the state runs into hard times down the road, I don’t want lawmakers’ hands tied.

And I oppose the property tax amendment. I know people are hurting over property taxes. But this proposal doesn’t tell us what the limit will be or what exceptions there will be. Lawmakers would decide that later. I want to see the actual plan before asking voters to put it in the constitution.

If the income tax cap amendment passes, how would you ensure future revenue shortfalls are mitigated?

First, I want to be straight about this: passing the amendment would not create a shortfall by itself. The income tax rate is already set to fall below the proposed cap in 2027. The trouble comes later if revenue drops and the state has fewer ways to respond.

I’d start by looking hard at the numbers and at tax breaks and incentives that may not be doing what we were promised. I’d use reserves for a real downturn, and I’d make lawmakers spell out what any proposed cuts would do to schools, health care, and other services people count on. I would not call it a solution to cut state support and leave counties to pick up the bill.

Critics say putting tax policy into the constitution removes flexibility from future legislators and local governments. What is your response to that opinion?

I agree with that concern. You can hold lawmakers accountable for a tax vote. You can vote them out. Changing the constitution is a whole lot harder.

Things happen that nobody planned for. A county may need to replace a school or pay for more ambulance service. The state may face a recession. We need elected officials to explain their decisions and answer for them, but they also need room to deal with what’s happening. I don’t think we should put these tax limits in the constitution, especially when voters haven’t even been shown the details of the property tax plan.