November is coming, the time to elect or reelect new officials and pass or disapprove upcoming ballot measures asking for more your hard-earned money.
Whether you like it or not... we all have a dog in these issues, and I am no exception.
We're going to be asked to create a new 1.4% income tax if you live in Lane County that is in addition to the state and federal taxes that we already pay. Could this be similar to the recently confusing Multnomah County 1.25% I-Tax experiment?
It's no secret that I'm going to vote no on any measure that asked for money. The main reason is of lack of trust, responsibility and accountability that they have with OUR money. (Oh yes, and the fact that I am poor also impacts my decision)
Accountability and responsibility. For example, I would love to own a new car someday... however, I have to make the decision of spending my money on something with that would be considered a luxury, i.e. not a necessity, or cutting back on health care and food for my family. Obviously, a new car would be nice... however, the old one still has miles left on it.
Another example, let our road structure continue to fall apart while spending $1 billion for a new bus system when there are better economical alternatives to accomplish the same goal. It is the Cadillac versus Toyota scenario.
Remember the surprise that Cottage Grove got around tax time when they approved a majority of the levies? Sure, their hearts were in the right places, however, it was time to pay the piper for all the "yes" votes.
Take a look at the following examples for the estimated annual tax bill based on a home assessed at $150,000...
" Eugene: $368.50 total in annual taxes at stake. Breakdown: source = Registerguard--
Lane County income tax, $268
Parks bond, $49.50
Library operating levy, $34.50*
Lane Community College, $9
East Lane Soil and Water Conservation District, $7.50
Bethel voters in the city of Eugene: All of the above,
plus $150 for school operating levy, for a total of $518.50
Springfield: $653.50 total in taxes. Breakdown:
Lane County income tax, $268
Police/courts/jail levy, $163.50**
Lane Community College, $9
East Lane Soil and Water, $7.50
Fire operations, $60**
School bond measure $145.50** "
Yesterday, I just received my property tax bill for this year, and yes, it is several hundred dollars higher than last year. And I'm sure that next year will be higher than this year, and so on and so on.
So as I write the checks once again this year from money that I really can't afford to spend, I know that I would feel a lot better if I felt in my heart that the money was being spent wisely.
" * Eugene Public Library operating levy would replace expiring levy that costs $70.50
** Springfield police/courts/jail levy would replace expiring levy that costs $99; fire operations would replace an expiring levy that costs $54; school bond would replace an expiring bond that costs $145.50 "
3 comments:
Two notes of import:
1) Property taxes are higher because assesed values increase by 3% every year (in accordance with M.47/50) Since no property tax increases happened in 2005 your tax rate is THE SAME, but your value has gone up. This only makes sense as costs go up each year. If we tied the county's hands to 2005 revenue in dealing with 2006 costs you can quickly see how a problem would result. The I-tax attempts to correct a problem in that M.47 tied the 1999 county to 1997 revenue and capped increases at 3% per year. The gap has just become too big.
2) Approving the Springfield School Bond will result in a ZERO increase in your property taxes. It was designed to only replace the expiring bond. The school board could have gone for more (which is needed), but chose to stay under this limit. The RG doesn't do a good enough job of explaining that in today's story.
One last point - you are actually paying much less in taxes than you were 10 years ago. The combination effect of M. 5, M. 47/50, M.88, and the Bush tax cuts have lowered taxes for most Americans (albeit wealthy ones more than poor ones).
Consistently raging about higher taxes is a fool's errand. There is no evidence to support it.
Cottage Grove has very high school taxes. Out of $1000, you can almost guarantee that $800 of it goes to schools. I'm wondering why our schools are failing compared to the rest of the country when our taxes are high and the Gov. swears he poured millions of lottery dollars into the schools. No wonder we won't vote for more taxes(or Ted). I want to know where the money is REALLY going.
Laura,
Your comment is missing a key ingredient.
M.5 in 1990 limited property taxes for schools to $5 per 1000 of assessed value. Total taxes were limited to $15 per $1000. Schools could propose bonds above that, but must be approved by voters and could only be used for buildings and the like, not teachers, programs, or books I don't remember any recent bonds in Cottage Grove since they financed the new high school so it highly unlikely that $800 out your $1000 is going to the schools. Probably closer to $400.
Secondly, schools receive 80% of their money from the state general fund. The lottery is a VERY small percentage of that. If schools were funded at a consistent rate (ie- accounting for population increases and inflation) they should have received close to $6 Bil this biennium, instead they only get $5.24 B because the House Republicans wouldn't go any higher. Republicans have controlled the legislature (and school funding) since 1990. That is where your problem is.
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