David and Donna Scott: Sales tax plan would help rural areas

Regarding the March 28 news article “Tax plan would cost cities”: We live in a rural area of North Carolina and observe long-term trends we find very troubling.

Since the demise of the tobacco, textile and furniture industries in North Carolina, rural areas have become almost like a Third World country. We watch as our schools fall apart, our civic organizations disappear, our businesses dry up and our infrastructure falls into desperate disrepair. As a result, opportunity disappears, and our children leave never to return.

To exacerbate the problem, we have no political clout and no influence in the General Assembly and are at the mercy of urban legislators who consider rural areas as wastelands. At the same time, the coast, the Triad, Charlotte and the Research Triangle receive the incentives and enjoy the results of all the industrial recruitment efforts. This trend is going to continue, and our state will become a study in urban affluence and rural poverty.

This sales tax initiative will not solve this disturbing problem, but it could begin to right the ship. Please encourage our legislators to support this position on this issue and to say so publicly.

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 5:29 PM with the headline "David and Donna Scott: Sales tax plan would help rural areas."