Today’s N&R lead editorial:
Asking for people to vote for higher taxes, especially in this economy, is like trying to sell beach towels at the North Pole.
Voters said no to a sales tax increase twice in 2008. But the proposed county quarter-cent sales tax is back and will appear on Tuesday’s ballot for the third time in two years.
It’s as tough a sell now as it was in 2008 — maybe even tougher — but it’s a good idea all the same.
The tax is needed to help pay debt obligations, approved by county voters, for more than $650 million in bond projects. Those projects include parks, school construction, expansion at GTCC and the new Guilford County jail.
They are all worthy expenditures. (And, incidentally, the county posted the projected tax increases each bond item would incur, if passed, on its website, before the 2008 election.) But they’ve been bought on credit. The bills are beginning to come due.
All I know is I’ve seen plenty of the ‘Quarter-Cent Makes Sense’ signs in public places, but not one in anybody’s yard.
