Ty Harrell and Cullie Tarleton return to the NC House, Tony Foriest returns to the NC Senate and, Stan Norwalk gets elected as Wake County Commissioner despite the best efforts of NC Realtors to defeat them. Transfer tax proposals in Polk and Tyrrell Counties were defeated as were some sales tax increases but some bonds were approved. Voters don't like to be taxed but they like having a say about it.
Realtors dropped some last minute money on attacking NC District 41 Representative Ty Harrell and promoting his opponent Bryan Gossage, a darling of the right-wing. The NC Realtors also put more money into calls for Realtor Rick Gunn, their chosen candidate running against Tony Foriest, NC Senate District 24, who supported giving counties the option for a transfer tax:
Not all senators in swing districts are against the proposal. Sen. Tony Foriest, a freshman Democrat from fast-growing Alamance County, said he can support the proposal because it requires county voters to approve it before it could go into effect. He agreed with Easley that a land transfer tax could give counties another option to raise revenues rather than relying on the property tax. The six counties in Basnight's district have a 1 percent land transfer tax, and officials there say they have been able to keep property taxes low as a result.Harrell and Foriest are both African-American. Gossage and Gunn are white.
"You might find yourself in a situation where the land transfer tax might be more palatable," Foriest said.
