{"id":99609,"date":"2025-10-07T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/?p=99609"},"modified":"2025-10-07T09:31:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:31:20","slug":"say-no-to-taxing-fido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/say-no-to-taxing-fido\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pet Tax Nobody Talks About: How Charlotte\u2019s Transit Proposal Hits Working Families and Their Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>\n\t\t\tLess Cash For You, Fewer Treats For Your Pets\t<\/h2>\n\tWhen local leaders pitch a new 1% sales tax for transportation, they package it with glossy brochures, hopeful slogans, and promises of equity and infrastructure. But behind the sales pitch lies an uncomfortable truth: this tax isn&#8217;t just about trains and traffic. It&#8217;s about taxing the everyday lives of working families&#8230;even down to the food and treats we buy for our pets.\nYes, that&#8217;s right. If this transportation tax passes, you&#8217;ll be paying more to feed your dog.\n\t<style>\n  .video-container {\n    position: relative;\n    width: 100%;\n    padding-bottom: 56.25%; \/* for a 16:9 aspect ratio; adjust if needed *\/\n    height: 0;\n    overflow: hidden;\n  }\n  .video-container iframe {\n    position: absolute;\n    top: 0;\n    left: 0;\n    width: 100%;\n    height: 100%;\n    border: 0;\n  }\n<\/style>\n  <iframe src=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1_rAQcGitQVESFGTqITVGUULnU9hR2abZ\/preview\"\n          allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\"\n          allowfullscreen>\n  <\/iframe>\n<h2>\n\t\t\tDog Food, Cat Treats, and Kitty Litter &#8211; Now a Transit Revenue Source\t<\/h2>\n\tUnder North Carolina law, sales tax applies broadly to retail goods, and the proposed <strong data-start=\"815\" data-end=\"860\">1% increase would apply across the board.<\/strong> That includes:\n<ul data-start=\"877\" data-end=\"1123\">\n<li data-start=\"877\" data-end=\"905\">\n\ud83d\udc36 Dog food and cat food\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"906\" data-end=\"929\">\n\ud83e\uddb4 Treats and chews\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"930\" data-end=\"968\">\n\ud83d\udc15 Leashes, collars, and harnesses\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"969\" data-end=\"1004\">\n\ud83e\uddfc Pet shampoo and flea control\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1005\" data-end=\"1041\">\n\ud83d\udc3e Kitty litter and litter boxes\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1042\" data-end=\"1084\">\n\ud83e\ude7a Pet supplements and health products\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1085\" data-end=\"1123\">\n\ud83d\udc39 Even hamster cages and birdseed\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nPet ownership isn&#8217;t a luxury for most families; it&#8217;s part of the fabric of home life. And with costs already rising due to inflation, rent, and groceries, this additional tax quietly adds more pressure to households that are already budgeting every dollar.\n<h2>\n\t\t\tWho Feels It Most? Working Families.\t<\/h2>\n\tCharlotte&#8217;s wealthy elite may not notice a few extra dollars here or there. But for single parents, retirees on fixed incomes, gig workers, and low-income households, <strong data-start=\"1595\" data-end=\"1619\">every dollar matters<\/strong>.\nIn Mecklenburg County, a working-class family with two dogs could easily spend <strong data-start=\"1701\" data-end=\"1723\">$600-$1,000 a year<\/strong> on basic pet needs. Tripling the transit tax means they&#8217;ll pay <strong data-start=\"1787\" data-end=\"1855\">an extra $6-$10 each year, just to feed and care for their pets<\/strong>. That&#8217;s a lot more than just a penny.\nAnd what do they get in return?\n<ul data-start=\"1891\" data-end=\"2080\">\n<li data-start=\"1891\" data-end=\"1950\">\nNo guarantees of expanded service in their neighborhood\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1951\" data-end=\"2002\">\nNo binding plan for how the money will be spent\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2003\" data-end=\"2051\">\nNo safeguards against waste or mismanagement\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2052\" data-end=\"2080\">\nJust more promises. Again.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\n\t\t\t25 Years of Promises, No Red Line\t<\/h2>\n\tThe truth is, Charlotte has already had 25 years to get this right.\nThey&#8217;ve taken transit tax money before. They promised the Red Line to North Mecklenburg in the 1990s. They&#8217;ve pitched reform after reform. And today? <strong data-start=\"2343\" data-end=\"2380\">Not a single Red Line train runs.<\/strong> Buses have been cut. Routes have vanished. Transit-dependent communities have been displaced, not served.\nEven At-Large Commissioner Leigh Altman recently admitted:\n<blockquote data-start=\"2549\" data-end=\"2587\">\n<em data-start=\"2551\" data-end=\"2587\">&#8220;Charlotte couldn&#8217;t deliver it.&#8221;<\/em>\n<\/blockquote>\nLet that sink in. A <strong data-start=\"2609\" data-end=\"2662\">government that publicly acknowledges its failure<\/strong> now wants even more of your money, including a tax on your pet&#8217;s food?\n<h2>\n\t\t\tIt&#8217;s Not About Transit. It&#8217;s About Trust.\t<\/h2>\n\tPet owners are among the most loyal people you&#8217;ll find. We feed our animals before we feed ourselves. We go out in the rain, snow, and blazing sun to make sure they get walked. We work overtime to pay for emergency vet bills.\nWhat we <em data-start=\"3019\" data-end=\"3026\">don&#8217;t<\/em> do is keep falling for empty promises.\nA 1% sales tax on pet products might seem small on paper. But it&#8217;s a <strong data-start=\"3136\" data-end=\"3167\">symptom of a larger failure: <\/strong>elected officials that continue to ask for more without ever delivering results.\nIf they can&#8217;t honor a 25-year-old promise about trains, <strong data-start=\"3302\" data-end=\"3359\">why should we believe this one will be any different?<\/strong>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Less Cash For You, Fewer Treats For Your Pets When local leaders pitch a new 1% sales tax for transportation, they package it with glossy brochures, hopeful slogans, and promises&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99609"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99614,"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99609\/revisions\/99614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionnc.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}