Some of Durham’s elected officials are angry that Democrat Rep. Paul Luebke is thwarting their efforts to gain authority to impose new local taxes. Several folks from the city and county want to impose a tax on restaurant food in Durham to fund tourism/arts projects, and possibly a Charlotte-like transit tax as well.
Kudos to Rep. Luebke. That said, I do agree with one point made by the upset officials: The ability to impose local taxes should be uniform across the state. Some cities and counties — those with influential, pro-tax members of the legislature — have obtained the authority already. It makes no sense that some locales have certain options and others don’t. Tax policy should be uniform and consistent. From the Durham Herald-Sun comes these comments from City Councilman Eugene Brown and County Commissioner Becky Heron:
“It’s really an embarrassment even to go to Raleigh and see what they’ve done with that dedicated revenue source, and here we sit, primarily due to one person who’s tied up in 1960s ideology,” Brown said.
“We are falling behind because we don’t have the revenues some other counties have,” Heron added.
By the way, Rep. Luebke is unopposed in his bid for re-election to the legislative seat representing House District 30.
