Orange Crush: Tax hike would crush taxpayers and county economy

by Dr. Terry Stoops

Former Director of the Center for Effective Education, John Locke Foundation

Senior Fellow, Fiscal Studies, John Locke Foundation

Director of Research and Local Government Studies

October 4, 2010

Key points:

Orange County commissioners are asking voters for a $2.3 million tax increase at a time of high unemployment.
Regardless of the county commissioners’ promises, all of the new revenue from the tax increase would go into the general fund and could be spent for any legal purpose.
Promises to spend the new tax revenue for certain “needs” are a political move to gain support of special-interest groups and to motivate them to vote for the tax increase.
The identification of certain “needs” only illustrates that county commissioners have failed to set proper spending priorities in the past.
Since the special county taxing authority was established by the legislature in 2007, voters have turned down 68 of 85 requests for tax increases, sending the message that county commissioners must be more responsible stewards of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.