We can lower our sales tax, just by voting. The one-percent “Cap Tax” is up for a vote. If we vote against re-imposing this excess tax, we can drop our sales tax to 5%. That will save each of us thousands of dollars and allow us to fund our own projects, with the money we save.
Sheridan County’s 6% sales tax is the highest county rate in Wyoming. No other county in the state pays a higher rate. Only 9 other counties pay a 6% tax. A majority (13 of 23) thrive on a 4 or 5% tax. In these tough times, we would be wise to vote ourselves a tax break. A ‘tax holiday” may be just what we need to get by.
Every election we have the opportunity to weigh-in on our sales tax rate. Do you prefer higher taxes or lower taxes? It’s an important question that each voter gets to answer. And this is the only tax we have direct control over.
In the 1980’s we voted-in the Cap Tax to raise money for a new police station. We raised the money, built the station, and then dropped the tax. That was what the “specific purpose” Cap Tax was designed for, a short term, specific need. Unfortunately for taxpayers, politicians now see it as a permanent part of the budget. We need to stop this misuse of tax money.
Everything we need is already funded by the state’s 4% sales tax. The one percent excess tax is an add-on that we don’t need. We need to free ourselves from high taxes by voting against this unnecessary tax.
Every election we get a mailer that presents the projects being done with our money. Projects that are intended to be funded by existing taxes, not the 1% CAP tax. Politicians love to extract money from us, pile it up, then stand in front of the ribbon-cutting event, to show what “they” have done for us.
It’s a shameless ploy that points at the goodies and completely omits all the thousands of home repairs and projects not done, because the money was extracted from us, through taxation.
This deceptive marketing campaign has worked in the past. It has fooled many people into believing “high taxes are good for us.” That is a lie.
The truth is: lower taxes are always better. It’s time we called them on their charade.
It’s time we voted ourselves a tax break. It’s time we lowered the tax to 5% and helped our neighbors see the truth: that our government is flush with cash, while we suffer under high prices and high taxes.
Let’s take control of the only tax rate we can actually lower. Let’s stop complaining about high taxes and actually do something about it!
Dennis Fox