INC NEWS - County Tax Flexibility

[bragin at nc.rr.com]

That argument was raised at least obliquely, if not explicitly. 

I'd like to see documentation on that. When i lived in California (a state which, due to Prop 13 is much more reliant on sales taxes than other states) during the recession of the early 90s, the drop in sales tax revenues contributed to large state and local budget shortfalls.

Barry Ragin
---- Reyn Bowman <Reyn at Durham-cvb.com> wrote: 

=============
That's a hidden cost on any business required to levy that kind of tax, whether it be sales or other types of similar taxes.  Same will be true of the transfer tax.

But when we say food below, we're not talking about prepared food which usually is taxed.

But on another note, was the issue raised last night that while the transfer tax yields more in the short term, over the long term the sales tax is more predictable and reliable?

I heard that recently.  

-----Original Message-----
From: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org] On Behalf Of bragin at nc.rr.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 9:26 AM
To: Colin Crossman
Cc: inc-list at durhaminc.org
Subject: Re: INC NEWS - County Tax Flexibility

More accurately - there will be no *increase* in the sales tax on food. The current 2% county sales tax, which includes food items like milk, eggs, and bread, would remain in effect. If passed, the .25% increase would not include food items.

I wonder if anyone has calculated the cost of reprogramming all of the cash registers at the grocery stores to be able to calculate the tax on each item as it is scanned?

Barry Ragin
---- Colin Crossman <crc128 at gmail.com> wrote: 

=============
Pat-

I think you made a typo, which some may find confusing.

You said: "The sales tax would on be on food"

I believe you meant to say: There will be no tax on food.

-Colin Crossman
Walltown

On 8/14/07, pat carstensen <pats1717 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I attended the hearing last night on the possibility of increasing the
> sales
> tax or the land transfer tax to relieve some need for property
> taxes.  About
> 30 people spoke, some against the sales tax, some against the transfer tax
> (tho it looks like the real estate folks will wait to get people out in 2
> weeks when the commissioners actually vote), some for the transfer tax,
> some
> asking to just let the people vote (very eloquent from Barry Ragin, for
> example), some asking for money for the arts (personally, I think that a
> transfer tax should be seen as a down-payment on infrastructure and
> appropriately limited), and a few "members of the Leprechaun Cult" (those
> who believe there is a pot of gold somewhere and if elected officials
> would
> just do their job, they would find that pot of gold and we could all save
> on
> taxes (-:)
>
> Anyhow, a couple key pieces of info:
> * The sales tax would on be on food
> * The land transfer tax would be equivalent to 4.32 cents in property tax
> * The sales tax would be equivalent to 3.66 cents in property tax
> * A full presentation is on www.durhamcountync.gov (a pdf file, at top of
> page, "Commissioners host Public Hearing on August 13th at 7pm to consider
> whether to increase Sales Tax or Land Transfer Tax [PDF]"
> * Although it sounds like the Board of County Commissioners would like to
> build in exceptions, the General Assembly doesn't allow it (basically, the
> law says the only exceptions are transfers that aren't sales, like
> bequests).  I suppose they could choose to make some rebates (for
> renovating
> historical property or for the tax on the first $25K of the value of the
> property)
>
> Personally, I think the way to handle the argument that senior citizens
> have
> paid property tax for years and would end up "double paying" if they sell
> their house now would be to phase in the land transfer tax so the
> accumulated property tax savings more closely matches the transfer tax
> paid.
>
> The commissioners are getting lots of calls and e-mails and were
> appreciative of the high quality of the comments they are getting.  If you
> want to add your voice:
>
> Ellen Reckhow      ereckhow at aol.com
> Becky Heron         beckymheron at nc.rr.com
> Phil Cousin           prcousin at earthlink.net
> Lewis Cheek         lcheek at durhamcouuntync.gov
> Michael Page        mpage at durhamcountync.gov
>
>
> Regards, pat
>
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crc128 at gmail.com
919-452-3333
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