Local funding: Let's pick a bill

Folks, the fight for local option funding sources has started to get hot. I'm on the WakeUP Wake County newsletter, and they're buzzing about Janet Cowell's proposal to let Wake County impliment a transfer tax.

As I mentioned in my kick-off post, we've got a lot better shot at this if every county doesn't try to bull rush the door and get their own bill. Currently, Orange and Chatham counties can charge school impact fees, and no one else, despite decades of trying by other counties. As such, I'm opposed to Janet Cowell's bill, just because it's a one-county deal. Let's settle this once and for all, for the whole state.

There are a number of bills in the general assembly about this right now. I'm saying, let's take a look at them here, find one (or more) to back, and give it a push from behind.

H153 is the one I'm most aware of, largely because Durham Rep. Mickey Michaux is the sponsor. This bill introduces a "Menu" of local tax options, from a transfer tax, an impact tax, a prepared foods tax, a local income and sales tax, and perhaps one or two more I may have missed. Now, this isn't a perfect bill -- I'm more inclined to support one-time impact fees for new homes than transfer taxes, but some would argue that the transfer tax is more progressive. Each of these would require a separate ballot referendum within each county before it could pass, so the bill doesn't out of hand grant taxing authority to the counties, which makes it more palatable as a statewide bill.

Not how I would draw it up, but if it could pass, it would be a big help. It currently has no cosponsors, and is stuck in committee.

What else is out there?