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Date Posted: 04:10:37 04/28/04 Wed
Author: Don Johnson
Subject: Borough Sales Tax Change Proposal Kenai Peninsula's recreational industry.

Borough Sales Recreational only Tax Change Proposal

Borough Sales Tax Change Proposal

--------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Donald Johnson on December 09, 2002 at 11:00:25:

Dear Sportfish

Borough Sales Tax Issue

Normally the Kenai Peninsula Borough, KPB can either be a great asset or a great liability.
As of late our Borough has taken on a liability nature, that nature is that of the "Bully On The Block"
with regard to its of recent proposed "Sales Tax Changes".

How many person's knew or " knew of " a local bully in their neighborhood when they grew up?
A bully usually follows a pattern like many other social problems. A bully will probe its possible victims
to see which person will give them the least amount of resistance. Resistance tells a bully that
they need to find another victim. The lack of resistance assures future attacks.
When it comes to the concept of a bully, it really doesn't matter if you are referring to a bully taking
a childs lunch money or a governmental agency doing the same to an entire industry.
The KPB has decided to become the Peninsula bully by sponsoring a discriminatory
sales tax attack on only the Kenai Peninsula's recreational industry.

The KPB is currently claiming that package sales and the $25 max. tax limit are ok with all other
industries except the recreational industry. The KPB has no real evidence of the recreational industry
somehow being different than other industries on this subject but it still somehow desires this change.
The KPB desires for only the recreational industry to not have common access to the same package
sales and the tax limits as other industries.

--------------------------------------------

The KPB Sales Tax Review Committee is currently claiming that it is not equitable or " fair " for the
recreational fishing industry to allow someone to save a few "tax cents" by buying together within a group.
This committee is acting like packaged sales are a good thing with regard to all other industries except
the recreational industry. It is claiming that somehow these packaged sales become a negative only
when found within the recreational industry.
Group sales in reality encourage larger sales and the max. tax cap issue really works to help keep
those sale within the borough.

Yes it is possible for anyone of the below industries to save a few tax cents by selling their
service within a group package but that is what the current KPB tax standard is.
The KPB has made a choice to allow package sales to help increase general borough sales
and not driving those sales into other boroughs with outrageous taxation.

The KPB has made a sales tax choice by:

1.] NOT mandating that the taxi cab industry charge per person and allowing it to charge by the cab load.
2.] NOT mandating that the trucking industry charge per load but instead allowing it to charge by the total
job or load.
3.] NOT mandating that the charter buses industry charge per person but instead allowing it to charge by
the bus load.
4.] NOT mandating that the restaurant industry charge only per meal rather than a package sale.
5.] NOT mandating that the rental car industry charge per person rather than by the car.
6.] NOT mandating that the party catering industry charge per dish or meal rather than the total job.
7.] NOT mandating that the mechanic industry only charge by the part or repair rather than the total job.
8.] NOT mandating that the building supply industry sell lumber by the board rather than per group.
9.] NOT mandating that an artist charge per painting rather than by a group of paintings.
10.] NOT mandating that the KPB borough charge per old computer when upgrading its computers.
11.] NOT mandating that the recreational industry charge per person and allowing it to charge by the group.

These are all examples of conscious borough choices which allow packaged sales
which give equal treatment because the public's has equal access to the package discount.

1.] Would it not be more fair for the taxi cab industry to charge per person?
It could be said that it is not fair for a cab to charge the same fare for a single person
as it charges for four persons. The single person is currently being charged a higher fare and therefore
taxed more than each of the four persons. The four people would in fact receive price & tax discounts
by riding together. Under current borough thinking this is an equitability issue which must be corrected.

2.] Would it not be more fair for the trucking industry to charge per package or per person?
It could be said that it is not fair to charge the same price for a single load from one buyer as is charged
for four buyers within the same load. A single buyer may currently be charged the same price as all four
of the other packaged buyers but the other four could split the fees and save on price and tax.
Is it fair to allow those four buyers to get a price and tax discount?
Under current borough thinking this is also an equitability issue which must be corrected.

3.] Would it not be more fair for the charter buses industry to only charge per person?
It could be said that it is an equitability issue to charge the same price for the total bus as for
a half full bus. A full bus could allow each person to get a price and tax discount and
a half full bus could cause those persons to lose those the discounts.
Is it fair to only allow full buses to get these discounts?
Under current borough thinking this is also an equitability issue which must be corrected.

--------------

Is it more " fair" to force any industry to charge per person?
Is it more " fair " to force any industry to not use price or tax discount for buying a package?
This is such a basic theme within our America way of life. Who has not purchased three boxes
of cereal instead of one because the price was cheaper per box when buying the larger package?
Did you receive some kind of unfair advantage over your neighbor because you made the choice to
buy more within a larger package?
Your neighbor had the same opportunity as you did but he may have decided
that he did not want to spend the extra money or carry the extra weight.
The key to this issue is found within the fact that your neighbor had the same opportunity as you.
He might have had to do something he would not normally have done but he could of received
the discount if he wanted it bad enough.
If the general public did not have the same " opportunity ", it could then be called an equitable issue.
This is the reason package pricing is fair to everyone, your neighbor has the same chance to
take advantage of the package discount, as you had.

Businesses and governments make choices everyday to expand their sales and the KPB max. tax cap
is a choice the KPB has made to help encourage general borough sales.
It is very clear that the max. tax cap is not an equitability issue because it is clearly offer to everyone.
The max tax cap issue is really a sales motivator issue and should not be confused with fairness issues.

Equitability is not the issue, attempting to maintain maximum sales within the borough is the real issue.
To attempt to remove any single industry from this "maximum sales" environment would in fact generate a fairness issue.
It would be very foolish to attempt to remove any industry from package sales or the max. tax cap.

------------------------------------------

As a kid I saw a bully steal another kids lunch money.
As a kid I was not able to do much about that bully.
As an adult I am able to do something about this bully.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will be having its final meeting before attempting to
bully this " recreational only " tax change on 12 / 10 / 02, between 7 - 9 pm.
If you will show up to testify you can make a difference.

Thank you

KPB Assembly members
jcdavis@gci.net , LMurphy@borough.kenai.ak.us , millimom@xyz.net , cmos@xyz.net , akjfischer@hotmail.com , rlms@ptialaska.net , merkes@ptialaska.net , gsuperman@gci.net ,
psprague@acsalaska.net , bjg@alaska.net , dalebagley@borough.kenai.ak.us


Don Johnson
Soldotna, Alaska

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