Local leaders worry about impact of proposed sales tax shift

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A change in the way the state handles your sales tax dollars could hit you hard in the wallet.

A proposal in the General Assembly would redistribute the money to all 100 counties on a per capita basis. Local leaders say that could mean losing millions for our area.

Mayors from New Hanover and Brunswick counties gathered this morning to voice their opposition to this bill. If it passes, they say it would no doubt mean your property taxes would be on the rise.

Tourism is money for southeastern North Carolina. One by one local leaders stood up to say they hope to keep it that way.

“There’s no doubt that the urban centers of our state and the cities are growing and the rural areas are depleting,” Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said. “Now to put all of that burden on the property taxes of our community… is just wrong. It’s sending the wrong message.”

The proposal by Sen. Harry Brown (R-Onslow County) would bring sales tax dollars back to your home county. That is if you go out of town to shop or dine, the sales tax you pay follows you back home instead of staying where the spending happened. Sen. Brown said last week spreading that money out is the right thing to do.

“Granted, allowing rural communities to receive more of the sales taxes their own residents pay will require our large prosperous urban counties to tighten their belts slightly,” Brown said, “but there will far more winners than losers.”

Saffo said, “To pick and choose, as we said, winners and losers, as we said, is, I think just sending the wrong message. I would rather see a program of some sort that involves all 100 counties.”

“In my opinion,” New Hanover County Commissioner Chair Jonathan Barfield (D) said, “this right here would be breaking something that’s not broken.”

Barfield says the investments made in this area to attract tourists are too great.

“Taxpayers in this community made those investments, and it is so important that we not rob them of what they’ve made already.”

Everyone at today’s event acknowledged rural communities need help, but they say this is not the way to fix it.

“I don’t want to see our economy eroded as we try to help other communities across the state,” Barfield said. “There is a solution, but this is the wrong solution.”

Numbers from the NC League of Municipalities show New Hanover County could lose $13.7 million in 2019 if this plan passes and goes into full effect. The City of Wilmington might lose more than $3 million.