Some people might think life in a small midwest town is inexpensive. In some ways it is: housing prices are cheaper than in the big cities and free-range chicken eggs purchased from a local farmer can be less expensive than buying corporate-farm eggs from the grocery store. But the sales tax isn't necessarily less than in bigger cities. Our current sales tax rate here in The Small Town is 8.55%. City officials want to increase it to 9.3%. We go to the polls next week to pass or fail the measure.
Politics can also be dirty in a small town. City officials are threatening to increase our property taxes if we the people do not increase the sales tax.
Here's a novel idea: eliminate or decrease funding for non-essential items in the city budget and use that money for needed items.
There is much local opposition to any tax increase.
Our taxes in this state are uniform, but higher. There is a 7% State sales tax on all goods and services except food (from a grocery store) and a 2.75% local tax imposed by cities, small towns, and counties for a total of 9.75%. [By State law the local taxes can range from 1% to 2.75%, but by this time, all local jurisdictions are charging the maximum.] The only relief we see is that our new governor has asked the legislature to lower the sales tax on food by 0.25% each year for the next two years, bringing it down to 5% by 2014.
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