Queen City Takes Tax-Burden Crown
Again. For the ninth consecutive year. Wonderful.
The recently released John Locke Foundation’s “By The Numbers: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties” report shows Charlotte perched at the top of the state’s heap, with the highest local government cost per person.
Charlotte’s local taxes and fees totaled $2,587 per resident for the 2008 budget year covered by the report. The Queen City’s per-person local government hit is more than $300 higher than any other large city in North Carolina, according to the report that compared 32 municipalities with populations of at least 25,000 residents. Mooresville ranked second with a per-person tax burden of $2,286. Asheville, Chapel Hill, and Wilmington rounded out the top five spots.
For medium-sized municipalities of local note, several were ranked with higher tax-burdens than the state median in local government costs: Cornelius, $2,423; Pineville, $2,281; and Davidson, $2,053.
“This is just about the amount that is taken, not the services [the cities provide],” said Joseph Coletti, director of fiscal policy for the John Locke Foundation. “It doesn’t say that anybody is charging too much for government, or anybody is charging too little. That’s up to the citizens of that area and the elected officials to make that decision. This [report] just gives them a point of reference.”
It’s a whopper of a reference point for Mecklenburg County, which had the state’s tenth highest rate of taxes and fees as a share of personal income, at 5.91 percent. That translates to an annual $2,686 drain on wallets. Other counties of local interest include Cabarrus (5.36 percent), Iredell (5.03 percent), Union (4.91 percent), and Gaston (4.89 percent).
Dare County ranked the highest, at 11.69 percent, and Onslow County the lowest, at 2.92 percent. The average county rate was 4.81 percent, with a statewide average of 4.98 percent.
“That’s a fair amount, especially considering the economic situation we’re in,” Coletti said. “It leaves you with 5 percent less to spend on all the things your family needs.”
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