The fight over the home tax — officially called the land transfer tax — has begun at the county level, now that the General Assembly has given counties the authority to impose either a .4 percent tax on land/home sales, or a 1/4 cent hike in the sales tax. But voters have to approve the tax hike first. Durham launches its first public hearing tonight, and the county is already doing a phone survey to gauge citizen opinion. Tim Kent of the NC Association of Realtors says his organization will fight the tax county by county. The group was unsuccessful in keeping the legislature from giving counties the option to impose this tax and took plenty of heat for its campaign.