Durham County Meals Tax
07/25/2008 | 04:53 PM
House Bill 2690
It has been a long time since a local meals tax has been approved by the General Assembly for a metropolitan area. This year there was a renewed attempt by the City of Durham for such a meals tax to fund “cultural amenities” such as minor league baseball.
This tax is highly regressive. The fig leaf of a local referendum does not hide the fact that lots of people who will be subject to the tax will not get to vote in the referendum. The Democrats never want referenda on important issues like marriage or property rights, but they think a local referendum can redeem bad tax policy which seeks to put the tax burden on one group of taxpayers. This bill was opposed by the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.
In the House the bill passed 60 to 59 with 49 Republicans and 10 Democrats voting “no”. In the Senate the bill passed 20 to 18.
It has been a long time since a local meals tax has been approved by the General Assembly for a metropolitan area. This year there was a renewed attempt by the City of Durham for such a meals tax to fund “cultural amenities” such as minor league baseball.
This tax is highly regressive. The fig leaf of a local referendum does not hide the fact that lots of people who will be subject to the tax will not get to vote in the referendum. The Democrats never want referenda on important issues like marriage or property rights, but they think a local referendum can redeem bad tax policy which seeks to put the tax burden on one group of taxpayers. This bill was opposed by the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.
In the House the bill passed 60 to 59 with 49 Republicans and 10 Democrats voting “no”. In the Senate the bill passed 20 to 18.