Guide

Why your tax rate fell and your bill did not

What the revenue-neutral rate is, why counties publish it in a revaluation year, and why it hides a shift of the tax burden onto properties whose values rose most.

Checked against the statutes October 25, 2026

The headline that misleads

“County cuts tax rate.” It runs every revaluation year. In 2023, Mecklenburg’s rate went from $0.6169 to $0.4731 per $100, a 23.3% cut. Owners whose values rose faster than the county average still paid more.

The rate is the price per $100 of value. Your bill is the price times your value. Only one of those went down.

What the law actually asks for

In a revaluation year, a local government’s budget officer has to include the revenue-neutral rate in the proposed budget, for comparison (G.S. 159-11(e)). The statute defines it as the rate estimated to produce the same revenue next year that the current rate would have produced if no revaluation had happened, adjusted for normal growth from new construction and for annexations.

Two things the statute does not do: it does not make the county adopt that rate, and it does not stop the county setting a higher one. It is a yardstick. Compare the rate adopted with the revenue-neutral rate and the difference is the real tax increase.

Why your bill can rise anyway

Suppose the county’s values rise 40% on average and the rate comes down to match. An owner whose value rose 40% pays about what they paid before. An owner whose value rose 25% pays less. An owner whose value rose 60% pays noticeably more, at the lower rate.

Which group a property lands in depends entirely on how its new value moved against the county’s. That is a question about one number, and it is the number an appeal can change.

Counties that cut the rate after their last revaluation, in the years we hold

20%

Average cut in the first year after revaluing

38%

Largest: Cumberland County, after its 2025 revaluation

What this means for an appeal

The rate is not appealable. The value is. The revenue-neutral rate spreads the same total bill across the new values, so if your value is too high, you are carrying part of someone else’s share, every year until the next revaluation. That is the case an appeal makes. Every county page on this site shows what happened to that county’s rate last time: find yours.

Questions people ask

What is a revenue-neutral tax rate in North Carolina?

The rate estimated to raise the same revenue on the new, revalued tax base that the current rate would have raised without a revaluation, adjusted for normal growth and annexation. Local governments must include it in the proposed budget in a revaluation year under G.S. 159-11(e). They are not required to adopt it.

If my county lowered its tax rate, why did my property tax go up?

Because your assessed value rose faster than the county average. The revenue-neutral rate keeps total revenue about level, so properties whose values rose more than average pay a larger share.

Can I appeal the tax rate?

No. The rate is set by the county commissioners for everyone. What an owner can appeal is the assessed value the rate is applied to.

Sources

This guide explains how the process works. It is not legal advice, and deadlines on your own notice govern your appeal.

Keep reading

How a commercial property tax appeal works in North CarolinaEvery stage from the notice of value to the Property Tax Commission, with the deadlines in the statute and what happens at each one.When an appeal can actually move your assessed valueWhy the revaluation year is the one that matters, what can and cannot be appealed in the years between, and why a reduction keeps paying until the next revaluation.What actually wins a commercial property tax appealThe burden an owner carries, the evidence that meets it, and the arguments that sound good but do not move a Board of Equalization and Review.

Is your assessment too high?

It costs nothing to ask. We compare the assessed value against recent sales and income data, and if there is no case we tell you.

Request my free analysis Call or text 704-605-0595