JLF Senior Fellow Joe Coletti shares his concern about a proposed sales tax hike in Charlotte to fund the arts. His views were published Sunday in a letter to the editor of the Charlotte Observer. In the letter, he advises Charlotte voters to learn from what has occurred in Buncombe County, where promises were made and have not been kept.
In 2011, Buncombe voters narrowly approved a sales tax increase on the promise that funds would be spent on capital needs at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Instead, since 2013, Buncombe commissioners have siphoned more than $15 million (20 percent of tax receipts) into the county’s general fund.
Read the full letter here.
