Published: February 06, 2007 01:37 pm            

Time to have the statewide local option sales tax debate

Here’s a little government 101 lesson for those who may be interested. Although it may seem terribly basic — fundamental, even — it remains an important thing for people to understand.

Nearly every school district in Iowa, and certainly those in the Clinton and Jackson county areas, struggles to make ends meet. They all want the Legislature to provide more money, and while lawmakers often try to do so, they come up against all of the other people who want money and quickly realize there simply isn’t enough to go around.

The solution, of course, is to raise taxes. But it isn’t that simple, since no one really wants to be responsible for raising taxes. So the lawmakers create things like the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, Instructional Support Levy and Local Option Sales Tax, which effectively allows the voting public to raise its own taxes.

For many years, local districts have been the beneficiary of a one-cent local option sales tax. The money, which is an easier sell because it comes from people who shop here and not just those who live here, has been used to help with several facilities projects in the area, most notably Clinton’s new Jefferson and Eagle Heights elementary schools.

Local option taxes are so popular that all but two counties — Linn and Johnson — have adopted the increase to fund school construction. Statewide, they have generated $1.2 billion since 1998. That means Iowa’s 5 percent sales tax is rarely actually 5 percent, though it was all by voters’ choice. Voters in the last two counties will decide whether or not to enact the tax one week from today.

And even though voters clearly have shown support for the tax by approving its existence in 97 counties, the House and Senate have been reluctant to make the tax permanent, which would allow local school districts to count on the money long-term, rather than worry if the tax will be continued each decade.

Enacting a statewide tax would make things interesting, as it could mean the money would all go to Des Moines to be redistributed, which might help less populous counties reap the rewards now reserved primarily for those with hundreds of thousands of residents and shopping centers as far as the eye can see.

And yet, newly elected Gov. Chet Culver said he doesn’t want to tinker with the tax. While that’s probably because he’s interested in tinkering with other taxes instead, we find it a poor approach from a former public school teacher.

If we’re already paying it, and happily so in many instances, why not make it official? Why not at least look at what the potential long-term impact could be and make a reasoned decision instead of deciding not to entertain the issue? It’s not as if some lawmakers haven’t tried in the past, because they certainly have.

But if Linn and Johnson county voters get on board with the tax, we see no reason we can’t at least debate the issue. Not all taxes are bad, and it’s high time some elected officials learned that lesson.

        

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