Williston, ND Active Issues

Sue Evans · Senior Member

State Sales Tax

Sue Evans · Senior Member

http://www.policynd.org/images/uploads/Pork_Report_Summary.pdf

Very well said. Now, you need to voice these issues to the legislators who create this mess. Many have shown the legislators "PORK" and in turn were told what is pork to me may not be pork to another. Each time we demonstrate where to cut, the most famous come back is social programs. Good. Some could be better monitored. We do have those who draw on the service, live with a individual who holds a well paying job, not claim that wage and at the same time hold their hands out for assistance such as food, heating, low rent...But our legislators refuse to push those off and many of those are well known violators. They instead cut transit funding that will assist the handicapped, elderly and actual low income while creating laws that state we must provide this $2 service. They cut veteran's deserved programs.

It cost us $100'000 in taxes to landscape the Bank of ND. This same amt in taxes was spent to landscape around one college blding. How long is our summer? Plant grass and mow. I could have found a less expensive way. That is over the top. Our taxes funded a study to incorporate buffalo meat on pizza. Approx. half of the students at our colleges are non resident. They get scholarships funded by our tax payers. How many stay and use their education here?

It is a shame what these legislators have been getting away with. They need to hear our voices, see our letters and see our votes!

-- Edited by Sue Evans on Saturday 16th of April 2011 02:25:03 PM

Steve Powell · Guru

The state sales tax is 5 percent. They collect well over 1 billion dollars a year on that tax. It isn't the oil and gas taxes that have put ND in a state of "revenue imbalance" (although it certainly has helped). It's the sales tax combined with our state income tax which sits at an annual revenue amount of roughly 600 million dollars.

Unfortunately our elected officials have managed to spend away our "revenue imbalance" and can no longer provide "wiggle room" to pass on these revenues to the local municipalities. This irks me a bit.

So the state takes in more than they need. They decide to start a "rainy day" fund and also to provided what they call "property tax relief". Great! Awesome! But wait! They don't collect property tax from me? It's not up to the state to provide this relief. This relief should be coming from my local taxing entities. So the state is basically taking more money from me than they should and then trying to pacify me by giving me a small chunk of the excess back.

I'm really struggling right now with the fact that 2 bienniums ago the state started raking in the cash. Rather than giving back what they didn't need at the time. The cost to run our North Dakota government grew by 24 percent and 26 percent in the past two bienniums. They decided to spend it (and stash some for the future which I'm also struggling with right now) and now what once was a blessing is now a curse.

Bottom line....they shouldn't have spent what wasn't theirs to begin with. That extra money that started flowing in 2 bienniums ago should have been immediately re-distributed back to the tax payers.

Had they done this we could have asked them to lower their state sales tax rate and become "revenue neutral". This, in turn would have given our parks and rec a better chance at getting the revenues they need.

Am I off on this line of thinking?