NC FreedomWorks Victorious In Land Transfer Tax Defeat

For the second election cycle in a row, North Carolina FreedomWorks activists were active and victorious against land transfer taxes!  

In November, 16 counties balloted a land transfer (home) tax.  FreedomWorks was on the ground in a majority of those counties.  All land transfer tax initiatives failed!

In the May 6 primary, 4 counties balloted the land transfer tax.  FreedomWorks engaged in 3 of those 4 counties.  November repeated itself with all land transfer tax initiatives failing!  

Ashe:  failed 55% to 44%    

Gates:  70% to 29%

Orange:  66% to 33%

Tyrell:  54% to 45%

Of Particular Interest:

Gates County:  This is the second time the land transfer tax has appeared on the ballot.   Despite a tremendous effort, we were concerned the transfer tax increase would pass in Gates where the local citizens are struggling against the United States Navy's attempts to place and OLF (Outlying Landing Field) in their county.  With this David vs. Goliath battle underway, time and resources are in short demand.  

Orange:  Following the unanimous failure of land transfer tax iniatives in November, it has been repeatedly said that County Commissioners across North Carolina were watching to see if a land transfer tax could pass in Orange.  Orange County, home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is widely considered the most liberal county in the state.  The Orange County Board of County Commissioners spent $10,000.00 on a poll to determine if the voters would support the tax.  Despite negative polling results, Orange County Commissioners voted unanimously to ballot the initative and to spend up to $1000,000.00 on a "public education campaign" to possibly change voters' minds!  Orange County FreedomWorks activists, understanding the demographics of Orange, ran an aggressive grassroots campaign including: neighborhood walks with doorhangers, literature car tagging, bumper sticker and lapel sticker distribution, personal telephone calls, sign distribution and triage, letters to the editor, newspaper ads, an informational event,  e-mail updates, and poll working.