Property-tax break on home builders’ inventory approved

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The North Carolina legislature has agreed home builders who build on land shouldn’t have to pay local property taxes on the improvements while a new house is waiting to be sold.

The state House voted by a wide margin Wednesday to accept Senate changes to the legislation, which home builders and legislative allies say should lower builders’ overall costs and generate more construction. The measure heads to Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk.

The builders would have to pay local property taxes only on the value of the land and not the construction on the property for up to three years.

Local governments have opposed the bill because they would lose cumulatively tens of millions of dollars in tax collections annually, while those empty homes still use some government services.

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