Soap Box: Sales tax for county roadwork better than property tax hike

by Larry Schuster

November 3,2007

On Tuesday, Boone County voters will be asked to renew a half-cent sales tax for roads. This is a county-wide sales tax paid by all persons who purchase goods in Boone County. This tax will sunset. It must be re-approved in order for the tax to continue to be collected.

We have been warned that failure to pass the ballot measure would cause the voluntary rollback of property taxes to be reinstated beyond previous levels, in order to maintain current funding. Higher property taxes have always been a "boogey man" we Boone Countians disdain. Several among us are holders of real estate. Property taxes are not easily absorbed as a normal cost of doing business.

The current saturation of the residential rental market has caused a depression of some rental rates and an increase in vacancy rates. A sales tax does not exacerbate this condition. Property tax on the other hand does.

Higher property taxes inordinately affect home owners at the lower end of the spectrum. An increase in the property tax rate for a $45,000 home has a much more significant impact on affordability than the same rate increase for the owner of a $250,000 home. We struggle in Columbia with housing affordability as the cost of home ownership is driven steadily up by the desire for high-end amenities, increasing infrastructure costs and government regulation. The lack of affordable housing and a shortage of quality employment opportunities have been identified as key indicators that our local economy is not the recession-proof economy it's often touted to be.

As such, the renewal of the current county-wide sales tax can be characterized as an economic development tool.

Each community in the county contributes to the success of commerce in the business heart of the county here in Columbia. The huge bulk of the tax will be collected in Columbia, yet it is only fair that the work of all Boone County citizens be recognized and that road taxes collected on their purchases be spent in their home communities and about the county.

Of major concern, however, is the background chatter in regard to a proposal to raise the county sales tax for roads another one-half cent. In my opinion, this move would cross the threshold from economic development to a subsidy by municipal citizens for rural homeowners.

Boone County is no longer a rural county. True, many acres of land are still in traditional agriculture production. The agricultural use of this land, however, does not create the current demand for paved rural roads. Residential development does. Paved roads are the limiting factor to rural residential development. City types do not like gravel roads. Gravel roads slow them down, create dust and are just a pain in the posterior. Independent city folks long for the elbow room of larger lots and the freedom from municipal regulation. The current half-cent sales tax the county is asking to be renewed enables these folks to realize their dream of escaping ordinary city life.

A complete and adequate rural road system once was viewed as an important investment by all in the support of farm-to-market transportation routes. The current system is wholly adequate for that purpose. Cities exist so people who live in close proximity may utilize economies of scale to most affordably provide fundamental services of electricity, water, sewer, streets and emergency services. Longer streets per home in rural subdivisions should be paid for by those homeowners—not by the general public.

Support the current proposal to renew the county-wide sales tax for roads, but be alert in regard to any increase.

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