Transfer Tax In Budget Deal

The Associated Press is reporting that the NC House and Senate have agreed on a state budget that includes a local transfer tax option. The story from WRAL which first reported it online:
NC Lawmakers Reach Tentative Deals on Spending, Taxes, Medicaid

Raleigh — House and Senate negotiators reached tentative agreements late Wednesday on a two-year budget that would make a "temporary" sales tax increase permanent and let counties raise additional taxes for school construction and infrastructure.

The deal, which requires final approval as part of the compromise spending plan presented to the full House and Senate, also would transfer the counties' share of Medicaid expenses to the state in a three-year phase out, House and Senate Democratic leaders said.

The two sides also agreed to give counties, with local voter approval, the right to raise either sales taxes by a quarter of a cent or the land transfer tax from 0.2 percent of the sales price to 0.6 percent.

The transfer tax was a major obstacle in the budget talks that began last month, as the North Carolina Association of Realtors spent nearly $600,000 this year on a public campaign opposing what it called the "NC Home Tax."

Several Senate Democrats have balked at the transfer tax option, but Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand expressed confidence Wednesday night that the proposal, as incorporated in the final budget bill, would pass his chamber.

"I believe that we'll be fine," said Rand, D-Cumberland.

UPDATE:
I just picked up the News & Observer from my driveway and the story did not get into print. Laura Leslie of WUNC was working even later on this story last night and has even more detail in her blog, Isaac Hunter's Tavern, even as she works on her morning radio: Wed. Late Edition: "Done Deal"?. The Greensboro News-Records's Mark Binker was also working late on this and has his updates: The tentative budget deal.