Tag: ballot referendum

A Vote for the One-cent Sales and Use Tax for Education Capital Projects is a Vote for Lower Taxes

There is an interesting dynamic going on in the electorate with respect to the local referendum to keep in place a one-cent sales and use tax for education capital projects.
Many people I consider politically savvy are voicing opposition to voting “Yes” on this referendum question. The general complaint I am seeing on social media is voters are tired of voting for more taxes.
I understand that attitude. Many people retired down here to escape the high taxes in the northeast and Midwest. They don’t want to see the creeping increases in taxes they experienced during their working lives in those parts of the country.
The conundrum here is that by voting “No”, in other words voting against the referendum to reimpose the education sales and use tax, voters are voting for higher taxes in most cases.
I moved to Horry County in 1983. In the intervening 39+ years, I have seen two new school attendance districts formed, Carolina Forest and St. James, with the necessary primary, elementary, middle and high schools built to serve those new districts. As a point of reference, Carolina Forest at that time was a tree farm for International Paper. No homes or businesses existed there.

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