Key facts:
• Robeson County officials want a quarter-cent sales tax hike and promise a two-cent reduction in the property tax rate.
• The net effect would be like a two-cent property tax hike, since the sales tax increases would bring in an additional $2.3 million a year, while the reduction in property tax revenues would be only $1.2 million.
• If the projects to be paid for with the tax increase are needed and not the result of neglect by county commissioners, then what should go before voters is a property tax increase.
• New Hanover County officials in May promised property tax relief if voters approved a sales tax hike, but they still raised property taxes after the vote.
• Robeson County taxpayers have already been hit with a two-cent tax increase with revaluation, so a vote to approve the sales-tax hike would mean a $2.3 million tax increase from last year.
• Governments with more ways to tax residents have higher tax burdens than those with fewer ways to tax.
Robeson County’s Vote to Increase the Sales Tax: Would you buy a used car from these guys?
