More on the penny sales tax
Today we ran a story about the proposed penny sales tax from Billy Yow.
There are still a few hurdles to jump, not the least of which is getting past the Guilford County commissioners tomorrow night.
And while Yow said he believes that he's got enough votes to get the proposal through the board, one commissioner has spoken against it, with a voicemail left late last night.
Carolyn Coleman said in the message that voters already said they didn't want a sales tax increase when they voted against a quarter-cent sales tax earlier this month, and that she would oppose the proposal Thursday.
Chairman Kirk Perkins is behind the idea, however.
"I’m hearing more and more taxpayers tell me that they favor a sales tax over increasing property taxes," Perkins said. But it's doubtful all the commissioners will support the proposal with the enthusiasm that many had for the quarter-cent tax.
"I'm sure that some commissioners will balk," Perkins said.
Yow, meanwhile, has many reasons for why he thinks the sales tax should be passed.
The resolution he proposes specifies that the sales tax would pay for school construction debt and lower the property tax rate.
Though, it must be said, that the sales tax could be paying for anything. To that, Yow said that if the sales tax makes it to the Nov. 4 ballot, then he's got to make sure that it gets publicized in the right way, unlike the quarter-cent sales tax.
"Nobody was out there for the quarter cent sales tax. It was not slated for any purpose," he said, "it was just slated to be another revenue source, and most folks thought it was just another tax."
On his proposal, Yow said:
"If the legislature lets it go on the ballot, I can assure you that it will be very well-publicized, we have to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it."
Yow said that a sales tax would spread the expense among many more than just property owners.
"The big thing is that over time when the economy gets bigger and the economy gets better, the sales tax (revenue) will grow. And the folks need to understand that 40 percent comes from outside people and people who are non-residents: people passing through in motels and shopping. If other people are helping pay our bills, that’s what we need to do. And the property owners have got to have some relief."
Comments (1)
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It makes more sense to me to try and prevent voters who are not property owners from voting on bond issues. If you are not sharing the cost of tax increases from passing bonds, then you should not be able to vote on them. I would like to see some legislation passed that would accomplish that goal.
Posted on May 21, 2008 2:15 PM