By Mike NelsonÂ
I know. No one likes to have their taxes raised. Who would?
But sometimes a need is so great that raising a tax is an appropriate course of action. Here in Orange County, we have serious school and park needs. For example, Morris Grove Elementary School, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro system’s newest school, hasn’t even opened yet and already we’re looking to start construction on the next elementary school. It’s going to cost an estimated $34 million to build elementary #11. Where’s the money going to come from?
And in the Orange County School system, there are serious — very serious — renovation needs that demand solutions. About half of the OCS schools were built before 1970 and consequently they are in dire need of repairs — new HVAC systems, athletic facilities, roofs, etc. But where’s the money going to come from?
On May 6, you will have an opportunity to help us answer that question by voting for the transfer tax referendum. Please take a few minutes to learn more about this referendum before going to vote.
By now you’ve probably received umpteen dozen mailings from the Raleigh-based real estate lobby screeching about how the world as we know it is going to end if the transfer tax referendum passes on May 6. Worse, you’ve probably received a few robo-calls.
Wow. They’re relentless. They’re motivated. And they’re wrong.
There are several points worth making. First, seven or eight counties in North Carolina already have a transfer tax: Dare, Pasquotank, Hyde and others in northeastern North Carolina. Contrary to the scare tactics currently being employed by the Raleigh-based real estate lobby, these county’s have continued to grow and thrive. The tax hasn’t squelched growth or caused hardship
Rather, the transfer tax has allowed these counties to dramatically improve their schools. Dare County, for example, now has the highest per-pupil expenditure of any county in North Carolina.
Second, if this referendum passes, Orange County government will be able to diversify our revenue stream. Currently, most of our money for schools, parks, conservation, recreation and what-not comes from the property tax you all pay annually. By having another source of revenue, we will be able to remove some of the burden from our property tax rate. Now, that would benefit all of us.
Third, unlike an increase in your property tax rate, which you’d have to pay every year, you pay the transfer tax only when you sell your home. For most of us, that’s only once every five or 10 years, often longer. In that sense, this is a much easier tax to swallow.
When thinking about the possible effects of this tax, I think of retirees like my mother. My mother is a retired schoolteacher who lives on a fixed income. She and my father bought her house in 1972 for $29,500. As you can imagine, it’s increased in value many, many times over since then. When her county increases the property tax she pays annually, it hurts. Her fixed income just doesn’t keep up with the increased taxes on an ever-more valuable home.
On the other hand, if her county passed a 0.4 percent transfer tax instead of raising her property tax rate, she’d be much better off. She’d only have to pay that tax when she sells her house. And given the profit she’s going to make when she does sell, it’s going to be a reasonably easy tax to pay.
Here’s the bottom line. If the citizens of Orange County pass this referendum, the commissioners will be able to diversify our revenue stream and won’t have to rely so heavily on the property tax. That will benefit retirees and other people of modest means.
For more information, check out www.yourchoice-oc.com or www.4schools4parks.com/
Mike Nelson is former mayor of Carrboro and currently serves as an Orange County commissioner
Wait a cotton picking minute. I thought the Board of Commissioners was not supposed to speak out for or against this tax. Last time I checked, to the chagrin of many, Mr. Nelson was on this board.
Let me guess, another loophole? Congratulations on keeping the Carrboro motto alive- “To seem, rather than be”.
I hope people remember this sort of scofflaw behavior when he is next up for elections.
Shame on Mike Nelson.