The topic of a Local Option Sales Tax has come up yet again. I remain opposed to increasing the sales tax. Sales taxes are better for the rich, and worse for the poor. This is because sales taxes are more regressive than property taxes.

What is regressivity? This means that the poor pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than do the wealthy. Sales taxes are the most regressive taxes. Income taxes are the most progressive taxes.

A person with an income of $90,000 paid 3.2% of her income in taxes. A person earning $19,500 paid 11.1% of her income in taxes. Relative to income, the poor pay more than twice what the middle class pay, and nearly five times the amount the wealthy pay. Even with exemptions, sales taxes hit the poor hardest.

So, who are the poor? Most of the people living in poverty in Iowa and elsewhere are children. There are more poor women than poor men. 15% (105,000) of the children in Iowa live in poverty. Even more (42%) live in low-income families. Taken together, over half our children are poor. Sales taxes hurt them the most.

So, who benefits? The biggest property tax payers in Johnson County will benefit the most. That includes: Coral Ridge Mall, Mid American, Hawk Landlord LLC, ACT, Green State Credit Union, and the Graduate Hotel. They benefit the most. Is that really what we want to do? Cut taxes on those businesses, and shift the cost to poor kids?

People like to talk about all the big things we could do with a sales tax. But we could do them right now with an increase in the property tax. That is correct. We can do it all with property taxes. Iowa City ranks #100 in property tax rate among Iowa’s cities at $40.77. That is lower than Des Moines, West Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and many other cities. Iowa City could do the things they want to do by simply raising property taxes.

Coralville ranks #145 in property tax rate at $39.33. Coralville could do the things they want to do by simply raising property taxes. North Liberty ranks #312 in property tax rate at $36.05. That rate has not been increased even a penny in a decade. North Liberty could do the things they want to do by simply raising property taxes.

This is just a matter of political will. Elected officials are afraid to ask the people with the actual money to pay more. So, they squeeze the poor, who by and large don’t show up at council meetings. If the project is so important, just do it with property tax dollars.

Another problem with the sales tax is that services used solely by wealthy people tend not to be taxed. The services of accountants, attorneys, and stockbrokers are not subject to sales taxes. These and many other services (advertising, consulting, etc.) used primarily by the wealthy and by corporations go untaxed.

Sales tax proponents frequently use the argument, “Sales taxes are better than property taxes.” First off, this is demonstrably untrue. But even if it was true, this argument is akin to saying, “Drinking is better than smoking, so we need more drinking.” Neither tax option is good for the poor. But sales taxes are worse.

Some folks are under the impression that renters do not pay property taxes. While it is true that they do not pay them directly, renters are definitely covering the landlord’s property taxes!

I cannot, in good conscience, support a shift of the tax burden to people who have less money. What’s more, I have trouble saying that a person earning $25,000 should pay more tax just because she lives in Williamsburg, Riverside, West Branch, etc. Especially when the local wealthy would be let off the hook at her expense. It is critically important that we think of our middle and low-income neighbors who commute to this county.