"In the early 20th century … property was the main tax base, actually both for the state and the counties. Now in the 1920s and the 1930s the statewide property tax was ended, and in its place the state added a state income tax and a state sales tax," explains Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "The property tax was reserved for local governments only, and, indeed, that’s the main source for tax revenues for local governments.

"The sales tax that was put on in the 1930s was a tax only on tangible products, and that’s also remained the same with a few exceptions," he adds. "The problem or issue -– one of the issues -– today, of course, is if you look at what people buy ... they not only are buying a lot of tangible products, they are buying a lot of services.

"And services are not taxed by the state sales tax. So that’s an issue," he adds. "Also when you compare North Carolina to other states, we rely much more on the income tax; we rely much less on the property tax. These are all issues that, in fact, a new state commission will be looking at."