The Charlotte Observer's campaigns for the school bonds and against the repeal of the half-cent sales tax for mass transit officially kicked off Sunday. What? You missed the kick-off?
   That's understandable. This is a subliminal campaign.
   Look again at the Big O's Sunday front page article "Property Tax Gap is Shrinking." In it, the paper's staff performs statistical gymnastics in an effort to convince you that Mecklenburg's heavy tax burden is really lighter than it seems.
   The underlying message is that taxes really aren't that high here, so an expensive bond package and the ongoing half-cent sales tax won't put much more of a burden on you going forward. So don't pack up that moving van. And since you are staying, vote for higher taxes.
   Left out of the article is the added burden that city tax rates and a myriad of municipal fees add to your property tax bill. In fact, Charlotte has ranked number one in the state for six straight years in highest local government costs per person according to North Carolina's Center for Local Innovation. Across a myriad of categories, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County come in at or near the top of the list in local tax burden. 
   The Center's study of how city and county taxes stack up dates back to 2005, so it isn't as current at the Observer's article. But it gives the reader some idea of the vast amount of tax and fee data the Observer's staff didn't consider in their analysis.