Known as a referendum. The proposed increase, had it been approved by Pamlico voters on Nov. 5, would take the current sales tax rate from 6.75 percent to an even 7 percent. Projections were that the ‘quarter of a penny’ increase might boost county revenues by an estimated $400,000 per year.
Back in April, the Pamlico County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved putting the measure on every ballot. Their rationale was that a modest sales tax increase is easier for taxpayers to swallow than jacking up the ad valorem tax, which is imposed annually on those who own land, buildings and vehicles.
Very little was said about the referendum in the run-up to elections. And, there was a reason! Warm, fuzzy ad campaigns, ostensibly to extol the merits of a sales tax increase, have not done well when deployed elsewhere.
“In other jurisdictions where they have done ads, it (the referendum) has always been defeated,” said one insider.
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