Sales tax in some areas is now 10%.
I remember the first time I realized how totally hosed the tax situation was when we stopped in Oxford, Alabama on a trip to the in-laws. During that same sojourn we got fast food in Fultondale, AL. Ten percent sales tax in both places. Nice new shopping areas, several restaurants, area getting built up. Ok, great for your community, but now that you have such awesome amenities, when does the tax rate go down? (yeah, I know, never, once the monsters are built it takes more money and people to keep feeding them. Infrastructure takes $.).
SPLOST, E-SPLOST, etc etc.
I argued against a SPLOST years ago when the county built a massive new school but didn't budget for furniture (like, you know, desks!?), and never ironed out traffic, speciously believing that Ga DOT would just automatically add a new road to the new school (never happened, traffic is awful). A year or two later it was "discovered" that the books weren't cooked, just that no-one understood plus and minus (addition and subtraction, + & - ) when keeping a ledger. So we, the tax payers were on the hook for millions more than we'd been told. My arguments were "appreciated" then discounted.
Everyone likes new stuff, but our society seems to think it comes from fairy dust and unicorn flatus.
Can we go back to "no new taxes"? Can we go back to even a 7% sales tax? Could we somehow come up with a non-property tax system of paying for the schools?
What's you local sales tax up to now?
I remember the first time I realized how totally hosed the tax situation was when we stopped in Oxford, Alabama on a trip to the in-laws. During that same sojourn we got fast food in Fultondale, AL. Ten percent sales tax in both places. Nice new shopping areas, several restaurants, area getting built up. Ok, great for your community, but now that you have such awesome amenities, when does the tax rate go down? (yeah, I know, never, once the monsters are built it takes more money and people to keep feeding them. Infrastructure takes $.).
SPLOST, E-SPLOST, etc etc.
I argued against a SPLOST years ago when the county built a massive new school but didn't budget for furniture (like, you know, desks!?), and never ironed out traffic, speciously believing that Ga DOT would just automatically add a new road to the new school (never happened, traffic is awful). A year or two later it was "discovered" that the books weren't cooked, just that no-one understood plus and minus (addition and subtraction, + & - ) when keeping a ledger. So we, the tax payers were on the hook for millions more than we'd been told. My arguments were "appreciated" then discounted.
Everyone likes new stuff, but our society seems to think it comes from fairy dust and unicorn flatus.
Can we go back to "no new taxes"? Can we go back to even a 7% sales tax? Could we somehow come up with a non-property tax system of paying for the schools?
What's you local sales tax up to now?
