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Chardon rejects $5 tax on license plates
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - May 20, 2010)
Chardon rejects $5 tax on license plates
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Read their lips: No new taxes.
That was the message from Chardon City Council last week as members considered adding a $5 tax for every resident purchasing a motor-vehicle license plate.
Council agreed unanimously that now is not the time to add another tax.
City officials last month had considered giving residents relief in trying economic times through a short-term discount on water and sewer bills. That idea also did not find favor with the majority of council.
The proposed $5 tax, known as a permissive tax, would have added approximately $30,000 a year to the city's coffers for road projects.
But members found little to like about the proposal.
Councilman Mitch Hewitt called the proposal a "classic government ploy." He said, "It's always $5 here and $5 there."
He said the country faces a $13 trillion deficit after a spending spree the last 10 years. He said the city is in better shape than the federal government and works to spend tax dollars wisely, but the proposal is symptomatic of government finding ways to tax people more. "This is how it starts," he said. "It never ends."
Mr. Hewitt said, nationally, people are taxed $40.3 billion just to drive and own vehicles, another $20 billion comes from gas taxes and another $13 billion in miscellaneous fees.
"Any new tax is a waste until there is accountability for those in place," he said.
Mr. Hewitt said the new tax would only add $30,000 in revenues for road projects. He said council is not doing its job if it cannot stash away $30,000 a year for road projects.
Councilwoman Deborah Reiter said she also does not support the proposed tax. She said council rejected the idea of giving a credit to residents, and the money saved by not giving the credit could be applied toward road work.
Council President Philip King said the idea was broached only to give council a chance to consider what the finance committee viewed as an opportunity. He said it was better to consider it now, rather than have someone question two years from now about why they were not told of it.
City Finance Director Jeff Smock said there are four separate sections in state law that permit taxing entities to assess a $5 charge under each of those sections for license plates.
However, in one case, Geauga County officials already assess under one code section, he said. The city gets a share of that money and cannot impose the same tax because the county has laid claim to it.
He said he had no knowledge that the county is seeking to use another section, but it could impact whether the city gets anything from the other three sections. He said if the county files for the taxes before the city, it could get shut out altogether under one section and receive only 50 percent of revenue from another. Only one section is reserved strictly for the city, Mr. Smock said.
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