WRAL reports this morning that local school boards statewide may soon gain authority to raise local taxes. The N.C. School Boards Association thinks this is a good idea:
“The school board has no way to raise any of their own revenue, so if there’s something they think needs to be done, they have to do the another elected body in order to basically get approval to do it,” said Leanne Winner, of the North Carolina School Boards Association …
“They are the experts in the public policy area and they know what’s needed for the children,” Winner said.
True as far as it goes, but that’s a limitation inherent in separated powers. The same logic can be applied to any governmental agency or function. Should we grant the same independent authority to the sheriff, for example? His is also an elected position whose funding depends on other officials. What about the state’s Department of Agriculture? Should taxing authority also be granted to the animal control officer, the city utilities manager, or the local health department? What about the federal Department of Defense? Each of them would qualify as the expert in their own area of policy.
As they say, it’s good if you can get it, but the power to tax should be vested in the legislative branch, and not dispersed through individual departments — no matter how worthwhile their endeavors.
