Senior Sales Tax
Dear Editor: I understand that there are petitions being organized against what is described as the Assembly’s intention to end the sales tax exemption for those over 65.
It appears to me that the proposal is simply to change how the tax is collected, not to deprive anyone of the exemption. The proposal also makes tax collection less of a burden on merchants.
First, qualified seniors simply will submit a yearly claim for a tax rebate. The city will issue a check for the rebate. The amount of the check is calculated on an historical average of tax savings for seniors under the cumbersome over-the-counter exemption system. Seniors will getting this lump sum rebate will be able to count on a nice sum in one chunk. I qualify for the exemption and for my part would like the rebate, rather than getting the exemption in dribbles.
Second, merchants will be freed from the bother and expense of keeping a tax exempt log at the cash register. Seniors will deal directly with the city, freeing merchants from the paperwork burden under the old system.
If some seniors do not file for a rebate, realizing that their financial situation really does not place them in need of the exemption, funds will be left over for the city to apply to essential services, such as support for the community hospital and for the schools. I can foresee groups of us getting together to cut up our exemption cards.
Since the plan is open to further debate and development, it is a very good one, certain to become even better as public discussion refines it. Getting involved in improving the plan probably is much better for Sitka, than petitioning to shoot it down, without thinking over the need for making the local tax structure work harder for the needs we have to meet locally, now that the state is exhausting its savings to tread water financially.
John Welsh, Sitka
