The following op-ed by Patrick Gleason, ATR's director of state affairs, was originally published by Nartional Review

As we hit the home stretch in the North Carolina governor’s race — one of the most hotly contested gubernatorial races in the country this year — Democratic nominee Walter Dalton is going into desperation mode and getting sloppy with his remarks in the process.

Earlier this week Americans for Tax Reform noted how Dalton unintentionally complimented his opponent, former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, by comparing him to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. In the same speech where Dalton made those remarks last week, the Democratic nominee also criticized Pat McCrory for saying nice things about Tennessee’s lack of an income tax. Here again, it is pretty telling that Dalton disapproves of Tennessee’s tax system. Though I’m a native North Carolinian, allow me to volunteer a defense of Tennessee’s tax code, starting with the facts.

As the chart below shows, Tennessee, thanks in large part to superior fiscal policy, has outperformed North Carolina in nearly every major metric of economic competitiveness and performance during North Carolina’s Democratic Perdue-Dalton administration:

Tennessee vs. North Carolina, economies and governments compared

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