INC NEWS - County Tax Flexibility

Tue Aug 14 10:01:56 EDT 2007

ALL the taxes are unreliable.  You would think the property tax would be 
"safe," but my mom is on a school board in Ohio, and they are going crazy 
because the state legislature keeps changing what commercial property they 
can collect taxes on.

Regards, pat

>From: <bragin at nc.rr.com>
>To: Reyn Bowman <Reyn at Durham-cvb.com>
>CC: inc-list at durhaminc.org
>Subject: Re: INC NEWS - County Tax Flexibility
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 9:57:08 -0400
>
>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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>
>--
>Colin R. Crossman, Esq.
>crc128 at gmail.com
>919-452-3333
>--
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