Study shows North Carolina is no beast of tax burden.

Some folks seem to find a dark cloud behind even the shiniest silver lining. Take the state's business lobby. A report came out late last year suggesting that North Carolina's business taxes ranked among the lowest in the Southeast. Good news, right? Not to North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry (NCCBI), which is lobbying hard for business-tax cuts.

The study was paid for by the North Carolina Business Council of Management and Development, made up of leaders of the 21 largest companies in the state. NCCBI first reported the results in its For Members Only bulletin, noting in the first paragraph that the study [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] showed the "total tax bill paid is slightly under the regional average." But when NCCBI followed up with an item in North Carolina magazine, which has a much wider distribution, it gave the state's overall ranking far less emphasis.

The For Members Only item included three charts comparing the states' taxes. The North Carolina item included only one - the chart in which North Carolina's tax burden was the greatest. The magazine reported that North Carolina ranked third among 12 Southeastern states in corporate income taxes paid by a hypothetical department store, but it didn't report that the state ranked 10th in property taxes paid by a hypothetical textile manufacturer, and it didn't print the comparison of overall tax burdens.

NCCBI President Phil Kirk defends the abbreviated story - especially since many members were opposed to any mention whatsoever of the study. He and his staff decided it was important to keep readers informed, even though it might hurt lobbying efforts.

Between a rock and a hard place

With environmentalists at his throat, a hefty new tax bill and a ream of bad press, North Carolina Granite Corp. President Donald Shelton might be seeing a little truth in the old saw, "No good deed goes unpunished."

The sale 25 years ago to the state of more than 1,000 acres in and north of Wilkes County, plus the donation of 400 more acres, was the Mount Airy-based company's good deed. There was one catch: North Carolina Granite retained mineral rights to a 125-acre tract, which it agreed not to mine for 25 years.

The moratorium ended in February 1994, and North Carolina Granite announced plans to begin drilling. That's when the headaches began. The site, which in 1969 was expected to be at Stone Mountain State Park's western edge, is now at its center and includes one of its most-popular spots...