RALEIGH — Gov. Pat McCrory and his Republican allies at the legislature have hammered home a simple message about the tax reform package they passed into law earlier this year. 

On Dec. 18, McCrory said, “North Carolinians will keep more of their hard-earned money thanks to historic tax reform.”

It’s true that the state’s income tax rate is going down for everyone in 2014. But that doesn’t mean all taxpayers will actually pay less in the coming year.

Republican lawmakers allowed the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit to expire and increased some sales taxes. As a result, many of the state’s poorest taxpayers will pay more in the coming year.

McCrory spokeswoman Kim Genardo says that when the governor spoke of new benefits for North Carolinians, he wasn’t referring to every taxpayer.