a man wears button that reads "I'm Rich I can afford to pay my taxes." — (Photo: Getty Images)

Tax policy can be maddeningly complex and confusing. Indeed, keeping it that way is one tool the super-rich use to avoid paying their fair share.

As Alexandra Sirota of the nonpartisan North Carolina Budget and Tax Center recently observed, however, it doesn’t have to be that way.

As she notes, there’s a simple and commonsense solution that would dramatically improve our state’s regressive tax system and raise close to a billion dollars per year – a millionaire’s tax.

By raising the state personal income tax rate on annual incomes over a million dollars to seven percent – a rate that would still be lower than what millionaires paid as recently as 2013 – North Carolina would realize an annual boost in state revenue of around $980 million. That would be enough to help insulate the state from the massive cuts in federal dollars that are about to be enacted in Washington.

The bottom line: Right now, North Carolina taxes people of fabulous wealth and those living in poverty at the exact same rate. A simple millionaire’s tax would do much to cure this grave inequity.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.