Chairman Jay Matthews
County raises its millage
After the third and final county budget hearing, Lamar County commissioners voted to set a net millage rate of 9.942, a rollback from 12.367 due to one cent Local Option Sales Tax revenues that bring in about $1 million a year. The hearings were required by state law because the millage rate rose .86 mills, or about $34 per $100,000 of home value. This will bring in a total of $306,600 to balance a budget of just over $8 million.
Crap rolls down hill...those at the bottom get to catch it all.
- It sounds like the county created a special service district. The Georgia Constitution (Article IX, Section 2, Paragraph 6) authorizes counties to create special districts for the provision of county services. The services offered through a special district (in this case fire and EMS) may be paid for in whole or in part by special fees, assessments, or additional mills levied only within the district.
- For instance, counties that do not provide fire services throughout the county may create special tax districts to do so for a smaller geographical area in which the service is provided. A service district may consist of the entire unincorporated area of a county or a portion of the county (more common). Property owners within a special district pay additional fees or taxes to fund the service beyond what they would pay in general county taxes. In sum, special service districts provide a means by which some citizens of a county may be provided and charged for a service above and beyond what citizens of the county generally receive. Conversely, citizens outside a special district who are not receiving the service otherwise provided through a special service district would not be taxed to pay for that service since they are not getting the benefit of the service being offered.
As discovered in OCGA § 48-5-220 (Purposes of county taxes) taxes can be collected to provide for ambulance service and fire protection of forest lands and the conservation of natural resources. The Georgia Constitution (Article IX, Section 2, Paragraph 6) authorizes counties to create special districts for the provision of county services. However, the definition of special service districts sent by the office of Senator Chance does not define the county commissioner’s attempt to declare special service districts.
Obviously this is another attempt of keeping with the spirit of the law while excusing the legal boundaries of the law. And while the budget includes monies for fire and ambulance, the fees amount to just duplication and a hidden agenda tax. Its legality should be questioned and explained.
Surezamm Sargent Carter!
You got my vote...AGAIN!
The USA has one of the lowest tax rates in the world, yet a few overly vocal fools insist on putting the burden on the working class.
Over the years the working class has lost tax deductions on the single house they own, interest payments, and so on. The wealthiest get deductions on jets. This world is upside down.
Get away from Fox News and Tea Party sound bytes and look up the facts. Most of the tax in this country is on property owners and the middle class.
The United States raises significantly lower tax revenues as a percentage of gross domestic product than do most other countries in the OECD. In 2003 taxes in the United States, including all levels of government, amounted to 25.6 percent of GDP, down from 29.6 percent of GDP in 2000. Other countries in the G7 raised 33.9 percent of GDP, while non-G7 OECD countries raised 34.7 percent. Within the OECD, Mexico raised the least tax revenues at 19 percent and Sweden the most at 50.6 percent. (The recovery of corporate profits and the stock market since 2003 subsequently boosted U.S. tax revenues to 26.8 percent of GDP in the first three quarters of calendar year 2005.)
Compared with other OECD countries, the United States relies more heavily on income taxes as a source of revenue and less on taxes on goods and services. ... But unlike other OECD countries, the United States does not impose a value-added or other form of national sales tax. Consequently, the U.S. share of revenue raised from taxes on goods and services (state sales taxes and state and federal excise taxes on selected commodities) was only 18.2 percent, compared with 26 percent in other G7 countries and 32.6 percent in non-G7 OECD countries. ...
Good for those who have worked hard to make a good living. I hope that someday I can work hard enough that I too will be able to provide more comfort and convienience for my family.
That may be true, but, the results are always the same. You right wing fringers complain and complain, but, keep opening your wallets. Keep it up so the county can survive.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, give to God what is God's.
The reception they receive will be epic.
We do not need any recreation funds either looks like people in the area get enough exercise running from the law.
Who would buy anything in Lamar County if the idiots keep raising sales tax around here. They are drying up our town.
You may want to go back to school since that would account for over 100% of all jobs in the USA