Weekend Wrap

Kirk Ross at Exile on Jones Street covers the great real estate collapse of 2007:
The 0.4 percent horror

I was just a kid when it happened, and I can’t imagine what it was like to experience it, let alone live through it. But driving through what is left of Cary, with its dark, crumbling cul-de-sacs and boarded up split-levels, you get a feel for the devastation of 2007.

Jack Betts laments the apparent lack of political will in Raleigh:
Legislators too busy bickering to address critical needs

RALEIGH --In a strange legislative session marked by inaction, delays and frustration, the most important debate has degenerated into a schoolyard shoving match over who's spending the most to inappropriately influence public policy.

Charlotte Observer thinks counties need relief and revenue options:
N.C. legislature should embrace a long-term funding fix

The governor is right. Counties need relief from Medicaid and local governments need revenue sources to finance local infrastructure and other services that will keep up with growth as it occurs. Legislators should make that a priority.

News & Observer observes Governor Mike Easley stepping up to the plate:
Easley dares lawmakers on tax

The governor challenges legislators to ignore opponents of a land transfer tax option and pass a $20 billion budget.
"I think that a lot of the legislators are scared of the Realtors and they've got to decide: Do they stand with the Realtors or do they stand with the people they represent?" Easley said.

WUNC's Laura Leslie at "Isaac Hunter's Tavern" has the Governor's audio:
Friday: Fits and starts

The Gov also reiterated his call to keep Medicaid reform within the budget bill, and said lawmakers opposed to the land transfer tax option are "scared of realtors."

Wilmington StarNewsOnline has a succinct editorial on the subject of transfer tax:
Which "home tax" will it be?

Now you know who most North Carolina state senators represent. It isn't property taxpayers.
If it were, a majority of the Honorables would let local voters decide whether to increase a tiny one-time tax on land sales to pay for the schools, sewers, water systems, law enforcement and other basic services that growth requires.

Fayetteville Observer supports a transfer tax option:
Voters should be able to choose how to pay for growth, conservation

We don’t buy the Realtors’ argument that a transfer tax will ruin home sales. A 1 percent maximum tax would add $1,000 to a $100,000 home. On a 7 percent, 30-year mortgage, that would add $6.65 a month to the payments — hardly a barrier to first-time buyers.
Six North Carolina counties already have a transfer tax, and it hasn’t caused a problem. It’s time to give every county that option.

WRAL has the full video of Governor Mike Easley's press conference:
Easley News Conference on School Money Allocation
Discussion of the transfer tax option begins about 10 minutes into the 17.5 minute video.