Raise taxes so they can be lowered

The Glens Falls (NY) Post-Star reports that the Warren County board of supervisors is considering raising the county sales tax by one percentage point. This would be expected to raise some $13 million a year to offset the property taxes.

Not surprisingly, the local Chamber of Commerce has already come out against even discussing the idea. The chamber's head said businesses would pay a higher sales tax on supplies and equipment -- everything from paper towels to computers to office furniture.
"It increases the cost of doing business," he said.

However, the area's extremely high property taxes also increases the cost of doing business. Increasing the sales tax would spread some of the burden to the area's thousands of tourists who use local services and infrastructure without paying property taxes.

(The Chamber also claimed that tourism would collapse if visitors were subject to a hotel bed tax to help support services and infrastructure they use but that hasn't happened yet either)

Business owners also are concerned the additional tax will encourage local residents to shop in other counties, the paper added.

"It's a further incentive for consumers who buy large items to go south," noted the chamber's head.

However, such claims are hard to take seriously.

If Warren County consumers are going to shop outside the county, most likely they will go to Saratoga County, to the immediate south. Saratoga County has a 7 percent sales taxes. Warren County is contemplating raising their sales tax to 8 percent. Counties to the south of Saratoga already have an 8 percent sales tax; counties to the north of Warren are considering raising it to that level as well.

Someone getting a $700 computer would save a whopping $7 by purchasing it in Saratoga County. Someone buying a $100 pair of sneakers would save a four whole quarters. Even forgetting for a moment the hassle of driving further and trying to find a parking spot, the cost of gas would quickly eat such negilible savings.

Property taxpayers are burdened by an avalanche of state mandates, particularly in the domains of education (which is not part of county taxes) and Medicaid (which is). It's even worse in a city like Glens Falls, which is geographically small and where a lot of land is off the property tax rolls because of all the non-profit organizations (churches, museums, library, parks) located within its borders but from which the whole region benefits. Raising the county sales tax is merely a band-aid to shift a little of the burden away from property owners, although a necessary step in the interim.

Several years ago, New York's high court ruled that the state had shortchanged New York City schools to the tune of $15 billion dollars. Giving all students across the state a comparable education is required by the state board of education but is not possible with the current regressive funding system. True reform must start in Albany. Education and Medicaid are completely subject to state regulations and thus should be entirely funded by state taxes.