For Immediate Release – November 12, 2008
Contact: Dallas Woodhouse, (919) 839-0011

RALEIGH -- Voters across North Carolina sent a clear message to state legislators last Tuesday when all 16 tax-hike referenda including proposed sales, real-estate, and meals taxes were voted down, many by huge margins.

"The public knows the way to create economic opportunity for all citizens is not to raise taxes, said Americans For Prosperity State Director Dallas Woodhouse. "People are struggling in this changing economy and the public understands that government has to tighten its belt just like normal citizens do. The question now is whether or not public officials accept this clear message."

Americans for Prosperity helped defeat a proposed 1 percent meals tax in Durham County by nearly a three-fourths margin, 72-28%. If passed, the tax would have funded a minor league baseball museum and other projects in the county. Crossing political party lines, 72 % of Durham County voters opposed the food tax while 75% voted for Senator Obama.

About two-thirds of voters in Polk and Tyrrell counties voted Tuesday against the land-transfer tax. The tax would have tripled the tax cost of selling a home in each county. Proposed land-transfer tax increases have failed all 22 times North Carolina counties have considered them.

The quarter-cent sales tax fared no better. All 13 counties with the tax on the ballot voted it down by an average of 76 percent. Caswell, Cherokee, and Mitchell counties rejected the tax by 80 percent or more. Since 2007, when the General Assembly gave counties authorization to raise sales or real-estate taxes, voters have rejected them 65 out of 73 times.

With each battle won, a new battle begins. In Durham, local officials said another vote was needed because too many people voted on the issue. They prefer a special or local election with a smaller, limited number of voters.

Clay County’s commissioners already attempted this method once when they scheduled a vote for the Friday leading into Labor Day weekend. Although turnout was low, voters still rejected the tax by 61 percent.

Other local officials are planning on asking the General Assembly for direct authority to impose these taxes on the public. The new General Assembly, mostly returning members, is already setting the stage for statewide tax increases.

"Elections have consequences and the voters have spoken," said Woodhouse. "Local officials and members of the General Assembly should follow the wisdom of the voters and reject any attempt to raise taxes."