Our View: Sales tax is a good idea

When Carlton County residents go to the polls on Tuesday, they will find one or more questions requiring a “yes” or “no” vote.

All voters will see the simple “County Question” asking voters to weigh in on paying for the new Justice Center, estimated at $66 million.

Know this, voters. The question isn’t asking whether or not to build the Justice Center — that’s a done deal. It’s been approved at multiple meetings, contracts have been let, lots of bonds have been sold.

Rather, the question is how to pay for the $66 million project. A “yes” vote will use half-percent sales tax proceeds to cover costs over the next two decades or more, while a “no” vote will put the majority of the cost onto future property taxes.

We know what way we’ll be voting on the county question: an unreserved “yes” because sending county property taxes even higher would cause hardship for many property owners, ourselves included.

Costs will go up either way. It will just be a smaller, already overburdened portion of the population that would bear the burden if the Justice Center costs come out of the property tax levy.

Like the county, the city is asking voters to approve a half-percent (or half-cent) hike in the sales tax. But voters can choose to support one or both proposed park projects. City Question 1 asks for about $2.12 million for improvements at the Pine Valley park, home to ski jumping, mountain bike racing and trails for running, walking, snowshoeing and Nordic skiing. City Question 2 asks for $6 million plus change for improvements to the two ice hockey arenas, which need a new and very expensive system for cooling the ice, along with other improvements. Presumably, if voters approve one but not the other, the sales tax will end sooner and the other project will either not happen or end up on our property taxes.

Which brings us to the argument put forward by most sales tax supporters: People who don’t live here will also be contributing to the sales tax proceeds. It’s not just residents paying the costs. It’s an argument that is even more viable in the city of Cloquet, which sees a larger number of tourists and other county residents using facilities such as the library, swimming pool, our commercial and retail enterprises and, yes, the hockey arenas and ski jumps and trails.

A “yes” vote doesn’t mean that users will suddenly get a free ride, although there is no charge to use the trails at the Pine Valley woodland park, nor should there be. The organizations that run youth hockey and skiing programs will continue to charge participants for the expert instruction and overall youth development.

A “yes” vote equates to a desire to maintain the quality of life and opportunities for all who live here.

If those thoughts don’t convince you, consider reader Dan Unulock’s ponderings on an increase in sales tax versus property tax. Unulock figured he is currently paying about $12 a month in sales tax. He pays a lot more than that in property taxes.

“We have some control of sales taxes by being frugal about what we buy, but very little control, if any, of property taxes,” he wrote to the Pine Knot.

No one celebrates higher taxes, but taxes pay for the things we expect living in the modern world, both the necessities such as snow removal and public safety, as well as some of the things that simply make life more tolerable, a place to exercise outdoors in the woods, or arenas to watch and play a hockey game. Isn’t that part of what we love about Minnesota, too?