Brace yourself, North Carolinians, as drivers rush to fill up on Dec 31! And you out-of-staters, buy your gas before hitting the NC portions of I-95, I-40 and I-77. Otherwise you'll be victim of the great gas tax increase of 2006 (Tax hike ...):
North Carolina's gas tax will rise 2.8 cents a gallon on Jan. 1 -- the biggest one-time jump in nearly 20 years ... . The latest tax increase, to 29.9 cents a gallon, will push North Carolina from having the nation's eighth-highest state gas tax to the sixth.
"Bottom line, we have to pass on everything like this," said Sami Nafisi, who owns Sam's Mart, one of the Charlotte region's largest station chains. "I hate to see that because it hurts everybody."
State Sen. Phil Berger, a Rockingham Republican who proposed a gas-tax rollback and cap in October, said: "This is harmful to our economy because it will take even that much more money from North Carolinians."
A driver using 10 gallons a week would pay an extra $15 a year with the tax increase.
Thwwwwwwpht. That's the sound of the NC economy as each driver cuts back on textiles, furniture, smokes and tourism. Sarc.
