House Finance Committee, in 19-6 vote, climbs aboard the transit wagon

The state's roadbuilders and the Sierra Club. The N.C. Justice Center and the N.C. Chamber (of commerce). The N.C. Rural Economic Development Center and the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Association.

These diverse groups routinely fight each other over state priorities and political issues. But they're on the same page in their support of House Bill 148: Congestion Relief / Intermodal Fund.

That's the legislation to give Triangle voters an option to tax themselves to pay for public transit expansion.

It would let Wake, Durham, Orange, Guilford and Forsyth voters authorize a half-penny sales tax, or 5 cents on every $10 sale, enough to generate about $90 million a year in the three Triangle counties. Rural counties would have a similar quarter-cent option.

"We wholeheartedly support this bill," Christie Barbee of the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association told members of the House Finance Committee this morning. "We believe it is time for all North Carolina communities to have the tools and the revenue options necessary to address their transportation needs."

This morning the list of supporters grew longer.

Democratic Reps. Paul Luebke of Durham and Jennifer Weiss of Cary restated their opposition to the bill's emphasis on a sales tax hike -- unfair to middle- and low-income people, they said -- but joined a 19-6 majority on the House Finance Committee to endorse the bill.

“I’m not thrilled it has to come from a local option sales tax, but the writing is on the wall that for current transportation funding, the money’s not there from traditional transportation soures," Weiss said after the vote. "So we’ve got to do something.”

Their switch came after Weiss, Luebke and sponsors of the bill negotiated changes in language to promote affordable housing around transit stations and won a pledge from Research Triangle Park employers to tax themselves to help pay for regional transit.

RTP now collects a little over $1 million a year in property taxes (at 3.6 cents per $100 property value) to pay for hiking trails and park amenities.

The amended bill would authorize the RTP tax district to levy a 10-cent property tax -- worth $4.3 million a year according to new estimates -- to pay for transit improvements inside the park and linking the park to the rest of the region and the airport.

This is a new direction for RTP, a sprawling suburban collection of campuses with long driveways and a layout that is poorly suited to public transportation.

“This shows a cluster of businesses in the park, their willingness to help be part of funding transportation improvements and linking us to 21st Century transit options,” Weiss said. “The park has already made some really innovative decisions about transportation, and this authorization just gives them one more tool to move that area forward."

Rep. Paul Stam of Apex, the House Republicans' leader, voted in the minority. He objected to "the gross inefficiency" of the sales tax. While North Carolinians can deduct property tax payments from their federal income taxes, most taxpayers can't deduct sales taxes, Stam said.

"Fifteen cents on the dollar goes to Washington, D.C., because of the lack of deductibility," Stam said. "I think we ought to think about that."