EDITORIAL: Your Survey Participation Wanted, Regarding Tax Increases

Over the past month or so, discussions have been taking place at the Archuleta County Administration Building, and at Pagosa Springs Town Hall, concerning a proposal put forward by the Board of County Commissioners.

The proposal being, a county-wide 1.5% sales tax increase that might — or might not — appear on the November ballot.  In Colorado, tax increases must be approved by the voters.   Here in Archuleta County, the county sales tax is shared 50/50 with the Town government; the Town has no municipal sales tax.

We’re not clear whether our elected leaders are aware that we might be in an economic recession… and maybe, local voters would be especially hesitant to raise their taxes during a recession?

There appears to be some disagreement, however, about the recession question, with Republicans seemingly eager to promote the idea that we’re indeed in a recession, as a result of Biden administration policies…

…and Democrats arguing that, no, we’re not in a recession, thank you; everything is under control.  See! the price of gas is coming down…

Politics.

It’s not yet clear whether or not this proposed Archuleta County tax increase question will appear on the November ballot. But the Board of County Commissioners and the Pagosa Springs Town Council have hired Louisville, Colorado-based Magellan Strategies to survey local residents, and help our elected leaders gauge support for a tax increase.

To that end, the Town government has made the survey available on the MyPagosa.org website.

When governments or other corporations conduct surveys, it’s tempting to use the survey to try and promote a certain corporate agenda, as you will notice in the some of the sample questions I’ve quoted below.

The first questions ask if you are a registered voter, where you live, and how likely you are to vote in November.

The next six questions ask our impressions of the County and Town governments. 

Are they doing a good job, with the money they extract from us? 

And right now, where should they spend the extra money, if we decide to increase our taxes?

Then we have a disclaimer, and a promise that our participation in the survey is valuable:

Before we continue, it is important to understand that no decisions have been made by Archuleta County and the Town of Pagosa Springs to put a ballot measure before voters this November. Your participation in this survey will influence that decision. Let’s continue the survey now.

12. As you may know, Archuleta County and the Town of Pagosa Springs are considering a potential ballot measure this November to provide additional funding for county and town services. Knowing this, would you prefer that the ballot measure be a sales tax increase or a property tax increase?

• Sales Tax
• Property Tax
• Unsure or No Opinion

It seems to me that I might have an opinion, and might be very sure of my opinion… which might be that I’m opposed to both types of tax increase… especially if my government is not going to tell me what the additional revenue would be used for. But the survey doesn’t allow me that option.

If I were designing this survey, I would have allowed a fourth choice.

• Sales Tax
• Property Tax
• Unsure or No Opinion
• No tax increase of any kind, thank you

The survey then proceeds to make various arguments, explaining why I might want to support a tax increase, to determine if any of the arguments have the power to change my mind.  (In the event my mind needs changing.)  Like, for example:

17. Compared to a property tax, one benefit of a sales tax is that visitors and tourists pay a significant portion of the tax. In fact, restaurants in the county report that 60% to 70% of their credit card receipts are from zip codes outside the county. Furthermore, retail shops say that 30% of their credit card receipts are from outside the county. Knowing this, are you:

• Much More Likely to Vote Yes, Approve
• Somewhat More Likely to Vote Yes, Approve
• Somewhat More Likely to Vote No, Reject
• Much More Likely to Vote No, Reject
• Unsure or No Opinion

This is an interesting argument.   When I analyzed the county sales tax receipts a few years back, I concluded that tourists pay maybe 18% of our sales tax.  Our governments, however, are quoting supposed claims from “restaurants” and “retail shops”. We might expect “restaurants” to have excessive representation from the tourism industry, for example. 

But did our governments look at the sales tax that gets paid mainly by local residents?

What about, like, Walmart?  And City Market?  Hardware stores? Liquor stores? (Especially liquor stores, I might suggest, based on the fact that liquor sales generally increase during times of economic stress.)

Some voters might wonder if this survey was designed specifically to promote a ‘sales tax increase’ agenda.

According to data from Region 9 Economic Development District, about 42% of the homes and 60% of the properties in Archuleta County are owned by people who live outside our community.  If we are truly hoping that non-residents will help us pay for government services, a property tax might be a much better choice than a sales tax.

But one key problem with property tax in Colorado is that businesses pay a rate more than four times higher — 29% — than residential properties — 6.95%. (The businesses known as ‘vacation rentals’ pay the lower residential rate, however, due to a Colorado tax loophole.)

A property tax increase would create a relatively heavier burden on our business community.

The problem with these two types of local tax increase — sales tax and property tax — is that they ultimately impact working families and low income families the most.  The type of tax that falls most lightly on the local community would be specific taxes on tourists and non-residents — be they lodging taxes, resort taxes, vacation rental taxes, vacant home taxes…

But those types of taxes do not appear on the survey as options.  The survey looks only at taxes that hit locals the hardest.

Here’s another survey question/argument:

14. The primary reason Archuleta County and Pagosa Springs are considering this ballot measure is the fact that the County and Town budgets have been stretched to the limit in providing critical County and Town services. It has been more than 30 years since the County, or the Town has passed a tax increase to fund services. However, the costs of providing services such as road maintenance, police, workforce housing, search and rescue, parks and recreation, utilities, infrastructure, and other services have increased significantly. Knowing this, are you:

• Much More Likely to Vote Yes, Approve
• Somewhat More Likely to Vote Yes, Approve
• Somewhat More Likely to Vote No, Reject
• Much More Likely to Vote No, Reject
• Unsure or No Opinion

Both the Town and County have recently increased employee wages, and continue to discuss additional wage increases… just as many other organizations and businesses are doing lately.  The cost of everything is going up, it seems.  Home prices, for example.  The prices of food, and gas, and clothing, and insurance, and… well, just about everything.

But sales taxes and property taxes are built on ‘percentages’. When prices increase, our local governments automatically see revenue increases, without even trying.

When home prices increase significantly — as they have recently — the County government collects more property tax revenue.  When lodging businesses increase their room rates, the Town and County collect more lodging tax.  When retail businesses increase prices, the Town and County collect more sales tax.  And as many Daily Post readers may have noticed, when you buy something online at Amazon or Walmart or Target or Best Buy… these online retailers now collect sales tax, and remit it to Archuleta County.

We have to wonder if our local governments can, like, learn to live within their means?

To participate in the tax increase survey, visit the MyPagosa.org website, here.