It looks like a heavy Democratic turnout for the Obama/Clinton race did little to bolster support for local-option tax increases (a quarter-cent sales tax and 0.4 land transfer tax) on the ballot in two-dozen Tar Heel counties.
On the land-transfer tax, the results are similar to last year when 11 out of 11 counties rejected the hike by an average three-fourths margin. Counties went 0-for-4 in approving the real estate tax in yesterday?s primary. Even though the percentage of voters going against the land-transfer tax in each county was lower than last year?s average, the numbers were still solidly against the increase.
The quarter-cent sales tax hike actually performed worse than last year, with Cumberland and Haywood the only counties approving it out of 20 total counties that placed it on the ballot. In contrast, five out of 11 counties approved the sales tax last year.
One interesting tidbit: five counties placed one of the tax increases on the ballot for the second time yesterday after unsuccessfully trying to pass one of the increases last year. Of those five, only Cumberland was successful in passing the quarter-cent sales tax (Cumberland voters narrowly shot down the sales tax increase last year 52-to-48, but it passed yesterday with 53 percent in favor).
Gates County tried for the second time to pass the land transfer tax, but voters rallied against it by an even larger percentage than last year (59 percent voted ?no? last year compared with 70 percent this year).
