Prop 1 decision comes down to tax tradeoff

As voters prepare to make a final decision on Proposition 1, the half-cent county sales tax for roads and law enforcement, supporters are asking that people take a close look at their property-tax bills.

The first line on the bill indicates how much the tax collector received for either the county road and bridge fund or the Cape Special Road District.

The next step, supporters urge, is to consider how much income is spent each year on items subject to sales tax.

The final decision, yes or no, supporters say, should be based on whether the switch from a property tax to a sales tax will save money or mean government takes a bigger bite.

Patience Pitman, who lives on Navaho Road north of Cape Girardeau with four children, did the math last week with the help of the Southeast Missourian.

The answer? She will pay more.

The Cape Special Road District tax, which cost her $60.22 in 2005, is well below what an extra half-cent sales tax would cost her to feed, clothe and take care of her two boys and two girls aged 10 to 15. She would begin paying more after spending $12,044.

But Pitman's decision on whether to support the tax goes against the advice of even the supporters, who expect anyone who will pay more to vote no.

"I think the cost is not going to be so significant that I am going to have a heart attack at the grocery store or Wal-Mart," she said.

Pitman makes her living by selling hospital supplies for Hospira. She will vote for the tax on Tuesday, she said, because she wants better law enforcement for her rural area of the county and better roads so her children will be safer.

Those benefits are worth an extra five cents on every $10 she spends.

The math is simple enough. The tax will cost $50 for every $10,000 spent on taxable items. Sales tax covers just about everything individual consumers buy, from groceries to clothing to toothpaste to automobiles.

County officials have presented arguments that the average person will save about $100 in property taxes, meaning they must spend about $20,000 to break even. The tax will reap much of the extra revenue for county coffers, they say, by tapping the shoppers that visit Cape Girardeau from outside the county.

While Pitman will vote for the measure, she's doesn't believe it will pass. Since moving to the area from Chicago four years ago, she has noted the strongly conservative bent of the region.

"I doubt it will pass because it won't benefit the people who are voting," she said. "Or there is no perceived benefit."

The key elements of Proposition 1 include:

* An extra half-cent sales tax on all purchases in the county. In the City of Cape Girardeau, the tax rate would rise to 7.475 percent. In Jackson, shoppers would pay 6.725 percent, and in the unincorporated areas, the tax would rise to 5.225 percent.

* Revenue of more than $5.9 million the first year. Of that amount, approximately $2.8 million would be needed to replace revenue lost by eliminating the property taxes and to provide a share for Jackson and the smaller communities of the county.

* The remaining revenue, $3.1 million, would be split between county road construction and the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department would hire 10 additional deputies, including five for patrol duties, and increase the pay to make salaries comparable with the city of Cape Girardeau.

* Accelerated paving of gravel roads. The process of putting a blacktop surface on county roads is moving along at about five miles a year. Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones has predicted that up to 15 miles of blacktop could be added each year if the tax is successful.

The tax is a permanent tax that would take effect Jan. 1. Property taxes for roads would be collected this fall for the last time.

The two months between the decision to set the tax before voters and the election have been a rocky time for the commission. They have heard loud demands for a dust control program for gravel roads and been barraged at some public meetings with questions showing voters' skepticism about their intentions.

To help illustrate how the trade-off between property taxes and sales taxes would work, the Southeast Missourian selected the tax bills of 10 county residents randomly from the alphabetical lists at the county collector's office.

The results showed that the biggest tax reductions would flow to property owners, especially those who own expensive homes, business properties or large farms.

For example, 89-year-old retired farmer George Friedrich owns almost 700 acres. His road taxes last year, including the personal property taxes for his 1991 Cadillac, totaled $162.14.

He's ready to switch to a sales tax, he said, both because he lives on a gravel road and because he will get a tax cut. Friedrich said he doesn't spend nearly the $32,000 annually he would have to spend to have the sales tax equal his road tax.

Friedrich is old enough to remember using mules and a homemade grading tool to work on the road himself. He hauled gravel from a stream bed and then ran the grader over the road while harnessed behind the team.

"We graveled Old 61 toward Fredericktown one time," he said. "We graveled that whole damn road."

Friedrich also favors the sales tax because he is tired of driving on the dusty gravel roads. "It couldn't be any worse than it is now. I don't know if it will get any better, but it couldn't get any worse."

The county sales tax will hit renters the hardest. Jo Frances Evans, who lives in an apartment in Cape Girardeau, owns a 1993 Ford Tempo. Her personal property tax bill in 2005 included 72 cents for roads. Once she has spent $140 after the tax takes effect, she would be paying more.

And she doesn't think it is fair. She doesn't like taxes much anyway.

"It gripes me every time I pay them," she said. "But everybody has to pay them, so may as well pay them and shut up."

Evans' solution for paving county roads? Let the people who live along the roads pay the cost. "That's not very nice, but that's the way I feel," she said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126