Every time voters have had a chance to vote on a higher land transfer tax rate, they have said “no.” Some in the legislature have suggested repealing the option for counties to raise that tax or the sales tax. The News & Observer would rather give county commissioners the unchecked power to raise taxes: “The legislature needs to finish the job, by giving county commissioners — looking at their budget and infrastructure needs — authority to levy the transfer tax without a referendum. As long as the tax is capped (it’s currently at 0.4 percent), voters would have the time-honored ability at the next election to decide if their representatives had raised revenues rightly.” Of course voters still won’t have recourse to get their money back if they decide in the negative.