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[Michael Winslow Czeiszperger <michael AT czeiszperger.org>]

An interesting study from the John Locke foundation was featured in  
today's CH News which refutes the local common wisdom that taxes in CH  
and Carrboro are higher than in surrounding areas. The foundation  
separated NC cities into two groups, those over 25,000 and those  
between 5,000 and 25,000.

For each city the studied the total tax burden levied, including taxes,  
fees, licenses, etc. Surprising enough the tax burden placed on its  
citizens by such cities as Raleigh and Cary were higher than supposedly  
tax heavy Chapel Hill. The large city rankings were:

Upper Quartile (out of 24)
1. Carlotte
2. Hickory
3. Durham
4. Wilmington
5. Cary
6. High Point

2nd & 3rd Quartile
----
7. Greensboro
8. Asheville
9. Raleigh
10. Chapel Hill
11. Winston Salem

The rankings in the 5,000 to 25,000 category were also interesting,  
with local communities Morrisville and Holly Springs ranking 2nd and  
7th out of 86. Other close cities such as Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest,  
Garner, Clayton, and Apex were in the upper quartile. By comparison the  
local taxes levied by the "socialist" community of Carrboro were rated  
as average.

The actual taxes per capita differed quite a bit, with taxes in Holly  
Springs, for example, being 1.7 times the per capita tax burden of  
Carrboro.

The ratios in the large cities were much closer together, with taxes in  
Cary being only 1.04 those of Chapel Hill.

The full report is at  
http://www.johnlocke.org/policy_reports/2003010727.html. Local coverage  
can be found at:

http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/story/ 
2086216p-1993510c.html
___________________________________________________________________
No place better demonstrates the worst aspects of both the American
character and public policy than the nation's highways.
        -- michael at czeiszperger dot org, Chapel Hill, NC