The Affordability Game 2026

I went grocery shopping yesterday.  I brought one hand-basket of stuff to the cashier.  Grand total: $157.47.

(And this was not at a boutique store like Fresh Market, Harris-Teeter, Wegman’s or Publix. )

I can remember when I could pack a large cart full of stuff and still not reach that grand total.

Yes, it’s harder to afford important stuff like food and gasoline these days.  Apparently, political consultants on both sides of the aisle have told their clients the little people out there are fed up with the high cost of stuff.

Senator-in-waiting Roy Cooper says he’s going to *Make America Cost Less.*. There’s nothing in the agenda of Roy and his pals that honestly will make stuff cost less.  Likely, they will cut costs on one group by passing it on to another.  Like future generations, for instance.

Here’s what Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly are coming with:

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I have to applaud the property tax move. Local governments have played a slick little game regarding property taxes for a long time.  City and county governments will perform revaluations that double or triple the  tax value of your property, but keep the rate the same. So, politicians at the local levels can come before the voters and say: “I held the line on taxes.”

But did they?  Let’s say you bought your property at $185,000 while the tax rate was 0.59 percent. Let’s say the county revalues your property at $375,000 three years later.  The rate is still 0.59 percent.

Not so bad, huh?  The rate didn’t change.

The problem? At $185K, you’re paying $1092 in property taxes.  At $375K, you’re paying $2213 in property taxes.

You’re getting scammed.  They look like good boys and girls by not raising your rate, but they stab you in the gut HARD with a higher property value that leads to a bigger tax bill.

This game makes it harder to sell homes in your community, and can leave homeowners on a fixed income in a real financial bind.

Supply and demand are taken out of the picture and replaced by the heavy hand of government.  We often call for more checks and balances on state and federal bureaucracies.  A little more at the local level wouldn’t hurt a bit.

The property and income tax move is only a small piece of the puzzle.  The honorables could tackle our high-as-hell gas tax. 

Trump is looking at giving it a shot in DC.  Why can’t we do it down here – with our 11th highest nationally gas tax? 

A basic economics course would tell you that high prices are frequently a result of increased government regulation and spending.  General Assembly Republicans appear to love spending almost as much as their Democrat colleagues do.  Phil Berger’s daughter has been in charge of writing and editing state regulations for some time now.  Why couldn’t she be activated to help give us some kind of relief?

And, of course, there’s health care.  Our state still has this ridiculous requirement for Certificates of Need (CONs).  Health care providers have to apply to the state for permission if they want to offer a new service. One would think having multiple sources supplying a service for a population would be great news for the bank accounts of a lot of North Carolinians. Competition, in a free market, tends to lead to lower, competitive pricing.

But, no.  The state and its CON requirement limits our choices on where we can go for certain treatments.  The artificial limitation of supply (sources) and a stable or increasing demand offers no incentive to providers already in the game to lower their prices.  The state hospital association already owns our legislature lock, stock, and barrel.  The current head of the association is a former legislator and state labor secretary.  So, when the hospital lobbyists say JUMP, our elected honorables are ready to shout: “How high?”‘

We saw this a few years ago when then-treasurer Dale Folwell tried to enforce some price transparency on the state’s hospitals.  The politicians on Jones Street shut that down QUICK.

Tossing CON requirements and allowing any and all comers provide what they’d like to provide — in adherence with reasonable safety standards – is a WIN for consumers seeking affordability.  But to make that happen, you’d need some less-than-honorables to piss off some generous campaign contributors.  (How likely is THAT?)

How about just backing off the spending, in general?  *We might be able to survive a few extra years without a state-subsidized Museum of Tiddlywinks.* 

If you need a reminder of just how bad off we are, click HERE.

The affordability talk from Roy and the Dems is insincere at best. Some of the least-affordable locales in North Carolina are all Democrat strongholds.

The Republicans – at least at the state level – are off to a good start.  But there’s a long way to go.  Will they have enough time before angry and frustrated voters go to the polls?