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<br />CCM Economics, LLC Orange County Tax Equity Page 28 <br /> <br />municipality. The particulars of each municipalities’ revenue and expenditures differed <br />somewhat between the different municipalities, but still followed the same general pattern. The <br />largest component of revenue are property taxes followed by sales taxes and intergovernmental <br />transfers. These intergovernmental transfers are ultimately sourced from citizens federal and <br />state income taxes. <br />The total amount for taxes, fees, and service charges that citizens are paying on a per <br />capita basis is displayed in Table 4. The different sources of taxes are broken out by category, <br />followed by licenses/fees, and charges. These are totaled in two different ways. The first total <br />line is the summation of all taxes that Orange County citizens are paying to the local, state, and <br />federal governments on a per capita basis. As one can see, Orange County citizens are paying an <br />average of $9,500 per person to the government. This value ranges from a low of $5,400 in <br />Mebane to a high of nearly $12,600 in Chapel Hill. However, a large majority of the difference <br />in taxes paid is due to federal and state income taxes. Therefore, these are excluded in the <br />second tally, which only tallies taxes, fees, and charges to Orange County.17 These total per <br />capita tax amounts are then compared to the per capita income in each region. Recall that <br />Chapel Hill has a per capita income that is approximately twice the amount of the nation as a <br />whole and that Mebane is significantly lower than the nation’s as a whole. Under this metric, the <br />differences in taxes paid on a per capita basis is much smaller. Chapel Hill is paying <br />approximately 8.9% of its per capita income in taxation and fees (excluding federal and state <br />income) while the unincorporated sections of the county are paying 5.2%.18 <br /> <br /> <br />17 Included in this tally are retail sales taxes of which a majority of these accrue to the state of North Carolina. The <br />amount that is granted back to municipal and county governments is much smaller than what is listed in this table. <br />18 Recall, that these percentages include some payments to the state governments such as sales taxes. In other <br />words, it would be a mischaracterization to say that Chapel Hill residents are paying 8.9% of their income to the <br />Orange County government. <br />65