The debate is heating up in Orange County over the quarter-cent sales tax that appears on the ballot. Anne Derby owns Hillsborough Yarn Shop. She’s unequivocal about the potential for direct impact on her business. From the Chapel Hill News:
It may only be a quarter-cent, but Anne Derby says another tax increase may be the difference between keeping her business in downtown Hillsborough or moving it outside of the county.
On Nov. 2 voters will decide whether to raise Orange County’s sales tax by one-quarter cent on the dollar. If the tax is approved, the county’s sales tax rate will go from 7.75 percent to 8 percent.
“As a retailer, I will lose customers,” said Derby, who owns Hillsborough Yarn Shop on Churton Street. “They might as well go to another county and pay less.”
Those who support the tax hike say it is an alternative to the property tax. John Locke Foundation analysts question the need for the tax hike in this analysis of Orange operations.
You’ll find Orange County’s tax hike website here.
