Commissioners to vote on quarter-cent sales tax
County Commissioners will be voting today, Aug. 2, on putting a referendum on the November ballot for a quarter-cent county sales tax.
If voters ratify it, the tax will apply to purchases in Forsyth County except gas and groceries. The tax would add 1 cent to a $4 purchase and 25 cents to a $100 purchase. The money raised by the tax would go to pay for the debt from building the new courthouse. This is in lieu of a property tax increase that was originally proposed in this year’s budget.
If voters do not pass the sales tax, then county property tax would need to go up 3.1 cents in the next budget to pay for courthouse debt.
Commissioners are expected to pass it, since only Commissioners Fleming El-Amin and Everette Witherspoon have voiced opposition, saying low-income individuals don’t need the tax increase.
