Nathan on:

Jobs

Economic Development

Education

Healthcare

Public Safety

The Environment

Affordable Housing

Open Government

Private Property Rights

District Elections

Parkside

Land Use

If the only sure things in life are death and taxes, then we should do our best to prepare for the former and lessen the pain caused by the latter. I believe that Buncombe County government can do a much better job to minimize our tax burden.

With gas prices at nearly four dollars a gallon, food prices in some cases double what they were a few years ago, and everything else on the rise, our families and businesses are struggling. The last thing we need are higher taxes. As Chairman, I have consistently been an advocate for taxpayers --- and have relentlessly challenged our staff and fellow commissioners to reduce our tax burdens.

The county currently "revals" (that's wonk for revalues property) every four years. Without a significant reduction in the tax rate, the amount of property taxes owed by our citizens will dramatically increase. In 2002 and 2006, when the county has faced a reval, I presented responsible alternative budgets to lower our tax rate beyond what was been presented by the county manager.

My liberal opponent takes a different tack. The last time the county was in recession and companies were laying off workers, he voted against our county budget for two consecutive years because he didn’t believe your tax rate was high enough to meet his spending demands.

Fortunately for our taxpayers, even many Democrats think his liberal spending is extravagant and reckless. In one case, two of his own colleagues rebuffed him; the next year, all three of his colleagues thought he wanted to raise your taxes too much. One commissioner, a fellow Democrat, even called his budget proposal “fiscally idiotic" and "political grandstanding." Check out this story in The Mountain XPress.

Buncombe County cannot afford a chairman who's out of touch with average folks and who doesn't understand the necessity of responsible budgets. My opponent has a consistent record of trying to raise the amount of money you pay in taxes, but now that election season has rolled around, he wants it both ways. On his website, he likes to say that he's cut taxes in the twelve years he's served on the commissioners. That's a laugh...which reminds me of an old joke that my wife won't let me tell --- but let's just say it has something to do with lawyers and cow manure ;)

My opponent also claims Buncombe County property taxpayers face one of the lowest tax burdens of any county in North Carolina. That's more manure, and it ignores the real economic pain our citizens are facing right now. While the county’s 52.5 cent rate may be relatively low, due to the real estate prices in Buncombe County, the tax bill that our citizens receive every year is relatively quite high.

Many of us are struggling and cannot afford to pay more any more in taxes. Can you?

Additionally, as Chairman, I 've pushed for state law changes to increase those eligible for the present use value program for those property owners engaged in farming, forests, and horticulture. Property owners enrolled in this program will see a significant reduction in their taxes. This should allow them to keep their property instead of being forced to sell it because of the burden of a high tax bill. (By the way, I strongly support reducing the amount of acreage from 10 acres to 5 acres to qualify for the agriculture present use value exemption. In the mountains, there are many small farms that are less than ten acres due to our topography and high cost of land.)

I have also been passionate about reducing the amount of taxes paid by our lower income elderly citizens. Several years ago, the NC General Assembly approved a program for lower income property taxpayers who are disabled or at least 65 years old. The program allows for a reduction in value of $40,000 or 50% of the value of the property --- whichever is greater --- for those with incomes of $25,000 or less. Buncombe County has over 4,000 property owners who qualify for this program --- that's more people than who who qualify in both Mecklenburg and Wake Counties, which have over three times our population.