A brief Star-News story we linked over at CJO today struck me as important in interpreting the next round of local tax referenda. New Hanover county commissioners just decided not to place a quarter-cent sales-tax hike on the ballot in November. Their reasoning was that while they wanted to pitch voters on the tax increase as a temporary means of financing a couple of transportation projects, the state law authorizing the tax didn’t really allow it to be truly earmarked in that manner.
Good for the New Hanover pols ? but what does that say about the other local commissions around the state who are claiming that they will spend higher sales or real-estate taxes only on particular programs?
