It's called the "transfer tax," a levy on real estate transactions, and depending on whether its opponents or advocates are talking, it's the key to doom or salvation for local economies.

In the legislature, real estate interests are fighting efforts to let voters decide whether they want a transfer tax in their county. They say it will slow growth and drive up home prices.

But Democratic legislators representing fast-growing counties say a transfer tax will help their counties meet the soaring costs of new schools, roads and other infrastructure. Without it, they say, their counties might be forced to sharply increase property taxes.

Some Triangle leaders are irritated by the Realtors' well-funded effort to oppose the transfer tax through a media campaign called "Stop the N.C. Home Tax."

"I, quite honestly, almost take offense with their ads," said Wake Commissioner Betty Lou Ward. "It is not a tax on your house, but it is an opportunity for counties to have a source of income to provide the infrastructure needed because of growth, including building schools."

The debate is far from settled, but in one North Carolina county that has imposed the tax for 16 years, the tax has not brought the dire effects that the real estate industry predicts.

Last year, Pasquotank County, a rural county in the state's northeastern corner, took in more than $2 million from its 1 percent transfer tax and is still ranked among the 20 fastest-growing counties in the state.

"I don't care how high the transfer tax is, people are still coming across the border and coming down here," said County Manager Randy Keaton.

Rhonda B. Twiddy, president of the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce in Pasquotank County, said the tax would not hurt growth. She cited new commercial development such as a Wal-Mart, art facilities, downtown residences and subdivisions, one with 700 home sites. The area boasts a 6,000-acre planned community, dubbed a "megasite" by the state commerce department.

"Nobody has stopped," Twiddy said, referring to the anti-tax warnings. "Nobody has even looked back."

And the tax has eased pressure on property taxes, enabling Pasquotank to go from the 14th highest tax rate in the state to the 14th lowest.

Along with Pasquotank, only Dare, Currituck, Chowan, Camden and Perquimans counties levy the tax. The counties gained the right to put the tax before voters through a bill offered in the 1980s by state Sen. Marc Basnight, a Dare County Democrat, which limited the transfer tax option to counties in his district.

Realtors, home builders and other opponents say the proposed 0.4 percent local transfer tax would place an unfair burden on the homeowners who would have to pay it and could depress the housing market. They say counties have other, more broad-based options to raise revenues for schools and other infrastructure needs.

"It's a fundamental fairness issue," said Paul Wilms, a lobbyist for the N.C. Home Builders Association. "Why should somebody who is selling a home pay a surcharge for something that benefits everybody?"

Democrat legislators who want the tax are trying to get it passed by including it in the state budget bill. These legislators say they will not support plans for the state to absorb local Medicaid costs -- a major burden for poor rural counties -- unless legislators from the rest of the state join them in supporting a transfer tax option in the budget.

The transfer tax struggle prevented legislators from getting a $20 billion budget passed in time for the start of the fiscal year July 1 and has been a factor in keeping the state operating under a stopgap spending resolution that expires July 31.

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