As Wake County’s let’s-find-some-new-ways-to-raise-taxes committee completes its work, it’s interesting that disagreement among the participants would be characterized as a last-minute stumble.
I stifled a chuckle when I read the following two paragraphs:
Former Raleigh mayor Tom Bradshaw said that a few members of the committee “almost intimidated” the rest into rewriting the report. He said they came to the discussion with an agenda.
“I don’t know that they ever had an open mind,” he said.
Forgive my ignorance. I thought all members of the group started the process with the same agenda: the search for the most appropriate way to meet Wake County’s long-term government needs.
The fact that some members would turn only to new tax options should surprise no one. (You might even say that was their agenda.)
But the presence of fiscal conservatives guaranteed that at least some members of the group would question increased government intrusion into the lives of Wake County taxpayers. They want to see government make the most effective use of the tools it already possesses and of the resources it already extracts from the private sector.
Now the discussion will return to its proper place: the meeting room of the Wake County commissioners. Commissioners will make their choices from a range of options, and voters will hold them accountable for those choices.
