By JIM SCHUH
of The Gazette
We've become so accustomed to paying various types of taxes that few of us even think much about them anymore. Maybe we should.
You may not have had occasion to stay in a motel or hotel in the Stevens Point area, so the taxes added onto the price of a room don't mean much. But you probably have had to pay taxes on rooms when you travel to other locations.
Motel operators in Stevens Point add 11.5 percent in taxes to rooms - 5 percent for state sales tax, one-half percent for Portage County and 6 percent in local municipal room taxes.
Those taxes are something we've begrudgingly come to accept. The room tax is an easy way for municipalities to raise money for various projects - mainly recreational in this area - without taxing most of its own citizens. Those same citizens, however, get to fund projects in other municipalities when they travel. Maybe it all works out in the wash.
I read a recent article about places where taxes on lodging are a great deal higher than what we pay around here. Taking the prize for the highest is Houston, Texas, which requires hotel operators to add 17 percent in taxes for rooms. That's why a $150 room there actually costs $175.50. San Antonio is close behind, with a rate of 16.75 percent. Knoxville, Tenn., charges 16.25 percent; Columbus and Ohio do exceptionally well on football weekends when Ohio State plays at home. Their room tax is 15.75 percent. Seattle, Wash., has a 15.6 percent tax on rooms. Travelers to Chicago pay 14.9 percent and in Washington, D.C., the rate is 14.5 percent. Visitors to California pay a 14 percent room tax in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. And in New York and Boston, the rate is 13.25. Billings, Mont., is at the other end of the scale, with a 4 percent tax. There, the real cost of a $75 room is $78.
Travelers grumble about the add-on charges, but can do nothing to escape them, except stay with relatives or friends. It may be possible, but often, it's not desirable.
In today's competitive airline industry, the airlines run big ads touting low fares. A favorite tactic is to show ticket prices for one-way trips in large print. The ad includes a note in the small print that says buyers have to purchase round trip tickets to get that rate. But the prices never include federal taxes.
In addition, air travelers now pay up to $18 per ticket in passenger facility charges. That's money the federal government collects to return to localities to help pay for airport improvements. Those taxes are less onerous because airport users are the ones actually paying for the improvements.
How many of us have looked into how much in taxes we pay to fill up our gas tanks?
If you paid $25 to fill your tank at $1.43 per gallon this week, you got roughly $17.50 worth of gasoline and you really paid only $1.02 per gallon for the gas. The rest - $7.50 - was state and federal tax. We can argue whether the taxes are too high, but much of the gas taxes go for road improvements. So in general, motorists are paying for better roads, and that seems fair.
But consider this circumstance: After the June 11 storm that felled several trees in my yard, I got a $1,055 bill from the tree removal service, and it included state and county sales taxes. Homeowner's policies do not cover fallen trees; they have to fall on your house if you want to collect. Many people had to foot the bill for tree removal themselves. Collecting sales tax on the work seems to me to be adding insult to injury. Do our lawmakers really want victims of natural disasters to cough up more money in sales taxes? Do they care?
That prompted me to write to my state representative and ask those questions. I suggested sponsoring a bill or amendment that excepts such occurrences from the additional agony of sales taxes. I have not yet received a response.
We pay taxes on our houses, our earnings, our capital gains, our inheritances and just about everything we buy, including tombstones. There are corporate taxes and personal property taxes and all of us pay for them though higher prices. We pay all sorts of taxes to various jurisdictions - city, county, school district, vocational district, state and federal. While taxes have become second nature to us, their fairness is the more pressing question.
I personally like the idea of a flat tax on earnings, but recognize fair-minded people who disagree. I'd like to see other changes in the taxation process, too. For now, I've confined my efforts to looking into the equitability of taxing acts of Nature. I'll be interested in how my representative responds to the thoughts I advanced. When I hear back, I'll share them with you.
You may reach Jim Schuh at The Gazette, or by e-mail at jpschuh@excite.com.