Grand Forks Sales Tax Vote

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

1 hour ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

It was but one suggestion, never posited as a dollar-for-dollar substitute. 

The sales tax strikes me as a lazy solution, and all I keep getting on here is blind defense of it. The takeaway is that there are only two camps and thinking outside the box is verboten. You're either a pro-tax supporter of the community or an anti-tax nutcase advocating for the town to die.

Individual voters have very little direct say in taxation.  Levies go up, home valuations go up, fees go up. Nothing anybody can do.  When a sales tax goes to a vote, I'd like to think people would be a little more thoughtful.

The only real loser here is the library. It's now obvious that GF residents weren't worried about the money last time. Just the intended purpose.

Grand Forks residents voted 'NO' to this measure last year and got:

1. Language narrowed down to restrict the tax increase's usage

2. Decreased the jump from .75% to .50%

3. Decreased the length of the tax hike from 50 to 20 years

As a result this passed with 76% of the vote. That's how this whole democracy thing is supposed to work I think.

[UNDBIZ]

7 minutes ago, InHeavenThereIsNoBeer said:

Yet, you ask people to be 'a little more thoughtful' when your suggestion involved 'following EBT card owners at Hugo's driving a 'car that is 2010 or newer'. 

That was Siouxfan97.

[Redneksioux]

Since mayor Brown was going to keep bringing this up for a vote until it passed how can the city go about having another vote to repeal this tax?

 

Im just one of those out of towner’s who thought I already was paying my fair share so I apologize to the city of grand forks for stealing  your services for all these years;)

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

If this new tax sunsets in 20 years and the net sales tax rate actually decreases, I'll send each of you a nice, handwritten note of apology.  

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

20 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

That was Siouxfan97.

Thanks, edited my post to reflect.

[Oxbow6]

56 minutes ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

It was but one suggestion, never posited as a dollar-for-dollar substitute. 

The sales tax strikes me as a lazy solution, and all I keep getting on here is blind defense of it. The takeaway is that there are only two camps and thinking outside the box is verboten. You're either a pro-tax supporter of the community or an anti-tax nutcase advocating for the town to die.

Individual voters have very little direct say in taxation.  Levies go up, home valuations go up, fees go up. Nothing anybody can do.  When a sales tax goes to a vote, I'd like to think people would be a little more thoughtful.

The only real loser here is the library. It's now obvious that GF residents weren't worried about the money last time. Just the intended purpose.

Lazy?  Explain?  It is the most equitable tax, for the most part, because it is a "user tax" to a specific town/city regardless of where the "user is from. If you buy something you pay a tax....pretty simple. I'll be in GF all weekend as a "user" who lives in Fargo. When you have almost 50% of all households in this country paying ZERO Federal income tax nothing wrong with getting those 50% of households to chip in a little bit.

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

Just now, Oxbow6 said:

Lazy?  Explain?  It is the most equitable tax, for the most part, because it is a "user tax" to a specific town/city regardless of where the "user is from. If you buy something you pay a tax....pretty simple. I'll be in GF all weekend as a "user" who lives in Fargo. When you have almost 50% of all households in this country paying ZERO Federal income tax nothing wrong with getting those 50% of households to chip in a little bit.

Lazy because it doesn't require any work or thought to implement.  It's easy because the city can look at last year's tax receipts and multiply by 1.xxx to reasonably estimate impact.  No need to be creative or have to do some tough projections.  It's blunt, and it affects everyone.  People can choose to dine out, can choose to consume alcohol, can choose entertainment options...nobody can get around buying necessities, taxable grocery items, etc.  And it is a stepping stone to the next increase, and the next, and before you know it, were on the doorstep of 8%.  Let's face it, there is ALWAYS going to be some dire need.

[LeftyZL]

23 hours ago, IowaSioux24 said:

Are you sure, this site says 8.375% (which is still high in my opinion) https://www.taxrates.com/state-rates/minnesota/cities/duluth/

You’re right. I should have clarified that the 10.625% includes the sales tax, some sort of tourism tax, a pay for the street lights tax, and finally some sort of bend over and take it tax.

And to top it all off, the city voted to raise the sales tax even higher on Tuesday to pay for road repair because they believed that a casino would keep their end of the deal and give them free money each year.

The City has to now go sell the state of MN on that they should raise their sales tax accordingly.

[moser53]

On November 7, 2017 at 10:01 PM, Cratter said:

I firmly believe in 20- 50 years the average sales tax in the USA will be over 10%.

The last 30 years cities have had to pass sales tax to pay the bills. So I think you are correct.

what does the city sales taxes in GF bring in every year? 20 million.

Mayor Brown says GF has  35 million in the bank. Take away that 20 Mil where would we or any city be?

Are the city leaders in GF responsible with tax dollars. I think they are.