The House gave final approval late Monday to legislation allowing Triangle counties to raise the sales tax by 1/2-cent to pay for light rail and more buses.
House members voted 73 to 40 to let Wake, Orange and Durham counties boost the sales tax by 1/2 percentage point, if voters approve. The money would help bankroll a 25-year regional plan that would link Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill by light rail and put 300 new buses on the roads.
The Senate already approved the bill
Guilford and Forsyth counties in the Triad also could vote to raise the sales tax for transit money.
The legislation allowed every other county, except Mecklenburg, to vote on a 1/4-cent transit tax increase. Mecklenburg already has a 1/2-cent transit tax added to its sales tax rate.
Some lawmakers questioned whether voters would rally behind a tax increase during a recession and after the legislature just voted to raise the sales tax statewide by an additional penny, or percentage point.
The bill authorizes two other sources of transit revenue in the Triangle: an increase in the transit car registration fee and Research Triangle Park landowners could pay a transit tax of 10 cents-per-$100 property valuation.
Blog RSS feed
