Another Reason to Vote NO

I think that the voters of Athens-Clarke County should send the SPLOST 20011 ballot resolution down to defeat for an array of reasons of reasons.  This is just one of them.

To amplify commenter geronimo509’s point, a Carl Vinson Institute of Government study entitled “Property Tax Relief in Georgia: The Local-Option Sales Tax (LOST),” found that:

“Whereas the extra dollar of LOST revenue provides about 28 cents in property tax relief, it leads to an increase in total spending of about 48 cents.  In sum, the findings illustrate that LOST has partially achieved the objectives of property tax relief, but on balance it is more an augmentation of than an effective substitute for property taxes in Georgia counties.”

Granted, the study dates from about a decade ago, but I see no reason why its conclusions would not still be valid.  See Policy Notes, Vol. 2 No. 3, on the CVIO web site.

Also, Rebuild SPLOST is having a town meeting.  Says Michael’s web site:

Rebuild SPLOST has set a town meeting for Wed., October 2oth in the auditorium at the public library on Baxter Street. The 6pm town meeting is formatted to be a public conversation on the referendum before Athens-Clarke County to extend the county’s 1% local sales tax for 9-10 years. Volunteers-no matter their position on the referendum- are needed to help organize the event. Rebuild SPLOST is a non-partisan ballot committee that opposes the current referendum. For more information about Rebuild SPLOST or too volunteer or RSVP for the event please call Michael Smith at 706-850-5896 or e-mail (info@abolishpoverty.us).

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