Another SPLOST, another no-brainer

One of the main reasons I started writing this column (more years ago than I care to count) was to try and counteract what I saw as a lack of balance in the way certain issues were being presented to the public by political leaders and the media. Nowhere is this lack of balance more apparent than when Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax (SPLOST) elections are held.

Both Houston and Bibb County voters will get to weigh in on new SPLOST proposals in just a few days, and based on the political speeches and news reports on the subject the choice appears to be, as always, a “no-brainer.”

Houston County has built all the schools it needs for now with the help of the existing education-targeted SPLOST, but now government officials say those schools need to be upgraded and the tax needs to be renewed. Of course it does. And I am 100% certain that if this one is passed it will be put up for renewal again, and again, and again, for as long as we keep approving it.

In Bibb County they have come up with a long list of badly needed projects their SPLOST would pay for, including a $2.5 million “gift” to the Harriet Tubman museum that apparently would never be repaid. Local politicians have portrayed the fact that Bibb County has a sales tax rate of “only” 6% while all the surrounding counties charge 7% as a badge of shame that needs to be corrected. Funny, I never thought of having a lower tax rate than a nearby community as something to be embarrassed about, but what do I know?

The standard arguments in favor of the SPLOSTs have been dusted off and rolled out for us as they are every time they put one to a vote. Let’s run through them, for old time’s sake.

- It’s only a penny on every dollar you spend. Yes, and I’ve seen estimates that a penny sales tax costs the average family about $150 a year. That may not seem like a lot of money to some of us, but for a family barely getting by that could represent a week’s worth of groceries, school clothes for a child, or gas money to get to and from work. Any tax increase negatively impacts the finances of taxpayers and it’s asinine to minimize that fact.

- The projects the tax will pay for are badly needed. That is obviously a judgment call, but it’s kind of a tough sell when the SPLOST is paying for a long list of things, some of which may be more critical than others. And we don’t get to vote on which projects are included and which ones aren’t.

- If the sales tax isn’t approved, property taxes will probably have to be raised. That is always presented in way that sounds like a threat, but I’m not sure why I am supposed to be more amenable to paying sales taxes than property taxes. A tax is a tax. I suppose if you own a lot of expensive property you’d have to figure you’ll pay less taxes overall with a sales tax. I’m sure the argument resonates well with all the local land barons.

But my biggest issue with the SPLOST might be that we are being forced to do our elected officials’ job for them. Setting tax and spending policy is what they get paid to do. It may be their most important function. So what do they do? They spend our tax money to hold special elections so we can help them decide on tax policy.

And hold on to your wallet, because the state is going to allow regional governments to ratchet up the sales tax to 8% in the near future to support transportation projects. Expect the same arguments to be trotted out again, and expect the choice to be presented as another “no-brainer” for us simple taxpayers.