Gang of 5 refuse to hold the line on new taxes...again | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    During last year's budget process the Beaufort County Commissioners debated whether they would raise taxes or cut spending. After a great deal of kabuki dancing the "Gang of 5" (Booth, Cayton, Klemm, Langley, and McRoy) ended up voting a 6% tax increase. Included in that action was an intent to submit a referendum to the people to vote on whether or not to increase the sales tax and decrease the property tax by the amount of increase in revenue the sales tax brought in.

    At Tuesday night's (9-6-11) meeting Commissioner Stan Deatherage offered a motion to hold the line on any tax increase in 2012. It was seconded by Hood Richardson but that is as far as it got. After more kabuki dancing by both the "No New Taxes" Gang of 2 (Deatherage and Richardson) and the Gang of 5, we got the same result as last spring. The Gang of 5 defeated the "hold the line" approach to taxes.

You can watch the action here:



    Commentary

    Posturing. That's what you see in this clip. What we've got is a County Commission divided 5-2 on the issue of spending. Five favor spending more and raising taxes to fund the spending and two favor holding spending down to the available revenue without new taxes.

    It is our understanding that the board has already missed the deadline for getting a sales tax increase on the November 2011 ballot so it will come on the November 2012, if at all. In that election Richardson, McRoy, Cayton and Langley will be up for re-election if all decide to run. We predict this issue will be the deciding factor in that election, depending on who files to run.

    Unless things change drastically we don't think there is a snowball's chance in hades of a sales tax (or any kind of tax) increase passing. The 2012 election will be driven by economic issues. Obama, if he runs and if he survives a potential primary, will be positioned as the "tax and spender." Whoever runs for the Republicans will take the position of lower taxes and less spending. That battle will have a major impact on voter turnout. Specifically who turns out. And those same voters will be the ones voting in the Commissioner elections.

    So Tuesday's vote means little; except as a pre-cursor of things to come.

   Here below is a copy of that resolution to hold the line on new taxes:

Resolution for the Beaufort County Commissioners to Not Raise any Tax through 2012
    Whereas, the Great Recession continues, with verifiable unemployment at 9.2 percent and possibly another 10 percent of America's workforce just not looking for work any longer, and,

    Whereas, excessive taxation, in all forms, places a burden upon Beaufort County's citizen's, and consequently, is a well known major hindrance to job creation in the private sector, and,

    Whereas, its is agreed that Beaufort County, the State of North Carolina and the United States of America will not claw its way out of this Great Recession until the private sector begins to, once again, create jobs, and,

    Whereas, the Beaufort County Commissioners, by a vote of 5 to 2, has already elected to raise property taxes by 6 percent in the 2011 / 2012 budget for the county, therefore,

    Let it be resolved, that the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners will not raise any form of tax upon its citizens through 2012.

   Written by Beaufort County Commissioner Stan Deatherage and submitted to the Beaufort County Board of County Commissioners, North Carolina, for passage on September 6, 2011.