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8/25/2009
Tonight: New county sales tax to be considered by Outagamie County
Resolution No. 48 "would authorize the formation of the County Sales Tax Study Ad Hoc Committee to study issues related to reducing the property tax levy, ramifications of a county sales tax to businesses and taxpayers and what goods and services will be subject to the use tax."
Wow. If passed, the Sales Tax Study Ad Hoc Committee is directed to report to the Outagamie County Board Chairman and Outagamie County Executive with recommendations no later than September, 2010. The Committee is to not exceed 15 members in size, and to include County Board representatives as well as “community stakeholders” and a “local business representative.”
I wrote briefly about the county sales tax back in late 2006 when Winnebago Co. Exec. Mark Harris proposed a budget that included the .5% tax. (The proposal didn’t last long…)
58 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties currently impose a maximum .5% optional county sales tax. A gaggle of counties here in the northeast huddle together without the added sales tax - almost with a pact. He who goes first will bring down the rest. So far residents and businesses have successfully fought the county sales tax in Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Brown, Outagamie, Calumet, Winnebago and Fond du Lac counties. It’s well-documented that a county sales tax does not as statutes require, reduce property taxes, but rather is used as an additional source of revenue.
State law requires a county sales tax to be used "only for the purpose of directly reducing the property tax levy," but new research [June, 2002] from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX) finds that only six of 49 counties studied did so. The nonpartisan, nonprofit research group found that property tax relief was "unlikely" in another 21 counties.
…. Overall, WISTAX found that, on average, 28.3% of Wisconsin county sales tax revenue is used to reduce property taxes. Over the first five years, an average of nearly one-third of the revenue goes to property tax reductions, but in the sixth and seventh years, the percentage falls to about 20%. However, as noted, the experience varies greatly by county.
WISTAX President Todd Berry noted that "these findings suggest some reason for caution in assuming that further local-option taxes, if created, would reduce the property tax." The County Board meeting is at 6:30 tonight in the County Administration building at 410 S. Walnut, Appleton. Be there! - and/or call your County Supervisor and register your opinion.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
My sales tax proposal that you commented on in 2006 applied 84% of the sales tax revenue to direct property tax relief, 8% to an annual $5.00 per capita allowance to the municipalities within the County and 8% to County spending. Because at least 10% of the revenue would have come from tourists and visitors from outside the County most County residents would have had a small net tax decrease. The original purpose of the statute was to provide a revenue stream to cities towns and villages which was assumed to provide property tax relief for their taxpayers.

Mark L. Harris (Tue Aug 25 14:27:24 2009)
The original (and current) purpose of the statute allowing counties to impose a 1/2% sales tax is to provide property tax relief. It was not assumed, but rather required to provide property tax relief.

Jo (Tue Aug 25 16:45:30 2009)
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