The land transfer tax's resounding defeat last week in politically progressive Orange County sent a message our political leaders too often refuse to hear -- stop hiding behind shadow taxes.

Shadow taxes are those "painless" levies designed to stick it to somebody else. Hotel and rental car taxes are the most egregious. They sting visitors who have no say in how their money will be used, who derive little benefit from the facilities they fund and who can't vote out the rascals who impose them. Room occupancy and rental car taxes are about as close to government-sanctioned robbery as is legally possible.

North Carolina's latest revenue fad -- the land transfer tax -- is just about as cowardly.

Last session the General Assembly gave counties the authority to put before voters an additional tax on property transactions. Supporters say the money is needed for schools and parks.

Their arguments have been unpersuasive. Thus far, 20 counties have asked voters to approve the new land transfer tax, a one-time levy set at 0.4 percent. Twenty times voters have said no. In Orange County, where my family and SUV reside, the measure was crushed by a 2-to-1 margin, losing 42 of 43 precincts.

Have taxpayers become cheapskates? Have they been co-opted by right-wing conspiracy theorists who deem every government budget bloated and in need of drastic cuts?

Hardly. The complete rejection of the land transfer tax is evidence that North Carolinians can spot a tax scam when they see it.

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IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT TO TAX DEPARTING HOME SELLERS who won't benefit from the improved schools and parks for which they've just been billed. And if the home seller is relocating within the county, where's the justice in forcing him or her to pay twice -- once via the property tax and again as a seller through the transfer tax?

Paying for schools, roads and parks is a fact of life, but property, sales and income taxes are the fairest revenue sources to do the job. Since everyone benefits from these government-provided services and resources -- directly or indirectly -- property, income and sales taxes ensure that just about everybody pays the freight.

The property tax is also the most stable and most dependable revenue source for counties, a big plus during tough economic times. People can cut back their spending. They can lose a job. But they can't unilaterally lower their property taxes.

The inherent fairness of using broad-based taxes to fund government infrastructure is exactly why our elected spenders don't like them. Those levies offer way too much accountability at the polls. Why tax all the people fairly when it's so much easier to financially demonize a smaller portion of the voting population?

Just ask Mike.

I don't know why I allowed myself to be so disappointed when Gov. Mike Easley proposed raising "sin taxes" to fund new spending initiatives in his budget. Hiking alcohol and tobacco taxes is the oldest trick in the book, yet it's perfectly in tune with one of the more unimaginative governors in the state's history. Even Easley's landmark program, More At Four, is a younger version of Gov. Jim Hunt's Smart Start initiative.

The merits of Easley's proposals to increase the pay of teachers and other state workers, and particular efforts to fix the mental health system, are open to debate. However, it's indisputable that education, paying government employees and providing mental health services for our most vulnerable citizens are responsibilities all North Carolinians share, not just those who choose to smoke and/or drink.

Instead of pursuing revenue gimmicks such as sin taxes and land transfer taxes and continuing an underperforming lottery, Easley and the state's county commissioners need to prioritize spending, make their case to the public and then make choices. Either raise fair, broad-based revenue sources to pay for new spending, hold the line on expenditures or go crazy and do something completely outside the box -- cut programs that have outlived their usefulness.

In other words, lead instead of pander. As Orange County voters demonstrated May 6, taxpayers are smart enough to know the difference.

(Contributing columnist Rick Martinez (rickjmartinez@verizon.net) is director of news and programming at WPTF-AM.)