That seems to be the message Wilson County voters were sending Tuesday as they overwhelmingly rejected a relatively painless 0.25 percent increase in the local-option sales tax. They were not alone. Voters in Nash, Edgecombe and Wayne counties -- 18 of 20 referendums statewide -- also rejected sales tax increases.
Voters are being pummeled by exploding gasoline prices and by a sudden wave of inflation at the supermarket and other retailers. The high price of oil -- over $120 a barrel in recent trading -- is raising the price of everything, and the falling value of the dollar is making imported items (which is nearly everything in retail stores) more costly.
Given an opportunity to raise an objection to the higher price of almost everything, voters acted. In the one factor over which they had some control, they said no.
The rejection was probably not a denial of the needs of local communities. Even in Nash County, where commissioners laid out a clear plan for how the money would be spent, voters said no by a wide margin.
Wilson County commissioners never specified how the $2.1 million would be spent, and that failure may have contributed to the margin of the defeat.
Commissioners had been vague, even secretive, about where the money would be spent and what the impact would be on the overall county budget.
This lack of precision led to distrust by voters who were reluctant to give the county more money to spend "at will" without a clear, transparent and unalterable plan.
Even with the enthusiastic support of a pantheon of local civic groups, Wilson County could not persuade voters to add 25 cents to every $100 purchase.
The Wilson Chamber of Commerce, Wilson Economic Development Council, Wilson Industrial Management Council, Wilson Education Partnership and Wilson County Board of Education all campaigned unsuccessfully for the tax increase.
What now? Wilson County commissioners have implied that property tax rates will rise substantially if the sales tax failed. They have frequently reminded voters that the $2.1 million the sales tax would raise equals 4 cents on the tax rate. But that option will be no more palatable to voters than the sales tax. Wilson County has needs in education, emergency services and other areas, but the county also has a clear mandate from the public.
By nearly a 3-1 margin, the voting public is telling the county: Live within our means.