Pat Powers has a post on a Gordon Howie proposal that would replace 35% of Property Taxes with an additional 2% Sales Tax. Excerpt:
That seems to not be much more than a shift. So would his bill also shift the burden 2 cents farther onto farm implements and vehicles? If you’re reducing property taxes by a thousand or so, and increase it by the same amount on tractors and combines, as well as seed, feed, fertilizer, etcetera.. I don’t see how that benefits the ag producer who would likely be a proponent of this measure.
I agree with practical problems of the idea in that without a high degree of transparency, the decrease in Property Taxes may erode as the increased Sales Tax stays in force. The end result would be higher taxes. But assuming we can pull off the trade, the benefit is in the tax policy of the wherewithal to pay tax policy. Just because you own property, it does not mean you have the cash to pay the tax. The tax then could cause one to lose their property. Conversely, if you have the cash to buy tractors, combines, seed, feed, or fertilizer, then arguably you have the wherewithal to pay the Sales Tax.
Pat Powers then goes into the idea of uses reserves to give property tax rebates. I like tha idea. I also recommend that we first take a look at reducing spending. I believe that is required if we want to decreases taxes. And the first step in reducing spending is to have transparency. We as taxpayers should have the mechanism to find out where our money is being spent. And with today’s computer technology, that should be an Internet based searchable database.
