Last summer the North Carolina General Assembly voted to repeal the ability of municipalities to charge a business tax, usually called a privilege license tax, on companies and businesses.
For Raleigh and some other local municipalities, that will put a big dent in their anticipated revenues for the next fiscal year, 2015-2016.
But not in Wake Forest. Privilege license fees bring in only about $65,000 each year, much less than in other nearby towns and cities.
Finance Director Aileen Staples said, “We will use the growth in our other revenue sources (sales tax and property tax) to make up the difference.” The town can count on growth in those sources because it gains about 28 new residents each week on average.
Towns and cities that will have a problem include Raleigh, where the shortfall could be $7.1 million; Morrisville where it could be $890,000; Durham where the shortfall could be $2.76 million; and Cary, which could be short $1.5 million. (The figures are taken from The News & Observer’s Oct. 28 issue.)
Apex, which apparently did not charge privilege license fees, will see no effect.
In Raleigh, leaders are saying they may have to raise taxes by 4 percent or 1.5 cents to make up for the revenue loss.
