About The 1% Sales Tax Proposal

There is a vote on Tuesday the 18th regarding a 1% sales tax increase.

This isn't to brag, maybe even the opposite, it's a glimpse of the mindset of a mostly ignorant voter which may in the future help each side of the 1% sales tax increase proposal to organize themselves.

- I don't recall how I first heard about the proposal. My guess is via the signs posted along Vernon Avenue which either supported the tax as a way to support schools, or opposed it on the basis of existing waste. I generally don't read local news.
- I've worked at a large corporation and been part of large volunteer organizations. Waste is everywhere, in my opinion, part of the human condition. I have been in the position of asking for a budget increase. So I sympathize with the schools.
- With that said, I have not researched what the schools would use the money for, or what all the reasons against it are.
- I don't read mailings, probably jaded by years of one-sided political ads. I know I've received at least a mailing from the opposition, maybe one from the schools.
- I was in a meeting with the mayor of Downs who said that if the sales tax is not passed, then property taxes will have to increase.
- Dena was at a Kiwanis Club meeting where a retired superintendent explained many aspects of the schools' position. What stuck most in her mind were that property tax abatement was mentioned as part of the package, though apparently not guaranteeable. And also, a fairly casual comment about how 1% wasn't much money.
- I recently was taxed $80 by the Town of Normal because I bought a car (in Morton, incidentally). Our water bill is in the midst of a multi-year phased increase. I separately had to appeal a property tax increase which overstated by value of our property by nearly a third. Casual comments about tax increases are counterproductive with me.
- Regarding waste, a friend commented that he'd vote in favor of a tax increase once the number of superintendents in the county was reduced far below the 11 of today - too much administration (whether or not that figure is right, I don't know).
- When I walk into NCHS just before the end-of-day bell rings, I see hundreds of students wandering aimlessly in the halls. There might be a great reason, but as a person who was in class from opening to closing bell my entire career, it raises the question of waste.
- I have many friends in education, and I do believe that they are underpaid, understaffed, overworked, especially driven recently by Common Core requirements, No Child Left Behind Act, and other legislation.
- I also believe that education is, behind national security and a more balanced budget, the top issue in our country.
- I have no children. But strong schools attract employees to our county, which attract employers, which infuse the local economy.
- My property tax is about $1,500 annually. I spend far more than $1,500 per year. So given a choice, I choose property tax, assuming equal percentages (which is probably untrue).
- Property taxes are borne entirely by locals. Sales taxes are also paid by visitors, a nice subsidy.
- Sales taxes impact local businesses. I can only guess, but in part because it raises the cost that customers pay which could reduce sales. And perhaps in part, if they purchase supplies from in town. The Chamber of Commerce took an official position against the sales tax.

In the end, I am voting against the tax because I am uneducated about the benefit(s) and so unwilling to accept the cost. Maybe my property tax will increase. We already occasionally shop around for cities in other states that might be more affordable to live in than this one, so this might add another spark of energy to that.