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The North Carolina Court of Appeals has rejected a claim from local black activist Fred Battle that Orange County should tax property that belongs to the descendants of slaves at a lower rate than property belonging to the descendants of white slave owners. In a ruling issued Tuesday, the three-judge Court of Appeals unanimously said the courts were not a proper forum for Battle to obtain relief. The North Carolina Constitution gives the power to levy taxes to the legislative branch of government and any tax classification like the one Battle wants would have to come from it, according to the decision. Battle's attorney, Chapel Hill civil rights lawyer Al McSurely, said he was disappointed with the decision because the court "ducked out" of deciding whether the tax valuation itself was racially discriminatory. [more

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