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Orange County Register
Beginning with the 2012 tax bill (the one due in April 2013), the state Franchise Tax Board will require property owners to break down their property taxes into deductible and non-deductible portions.Read the full story:
http://economy.ocregister.com/2012/01/09/state-targets-property-tax-payers/101799/
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By Carlos Alcalá
calcala@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2011 – 9:54 am
The sales tax rate will go up April 1 in Placerville, one of 14 jurisdictions in to have approved increases in recent elections and the only one in the four-county Sacramento region, the California Board of Equalization announced.
Placerville’s rate will go up a quarter of a percentage point, to 8.75 percent.
About 75 percent of the city’s voters backed the tax hike in November.
The added revenue is intended to pay off debt for a water treatment plant and to fund infrastructure.
As a result, town water and sewer utility rates are slated to fall, although probably not until July, after the city gets its first share of the increased payments.
The city was also in a unique position to benefit because it is an economic and tourist hub, so much of the sales tax is paid by non-residents.
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If you bought a home last year, you may be eligible for a tax credit of up to $8,000 when you file your 2010 tax return. But before you start shopping, make sure you qualify.
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The White House’s Deficit Reduction Commission issued a proposal this week that calls for changes in how the country spends money and collects taxes. Among the recommendations that could be made to Congress is a proposal to change the mortgage interest deduction.
The proposal recommends offering a 12 percent nonrefundable tax credit to all taxpayers and capping the mortgage-interest deduction to loans less than $500,000, with homeowners receiving no credit from mortgages on a second home.
C.A.R. strongly opposes the proposal and has consistently communicated its opposition to any such change to elected officials. As the housing market continues to recover from the worst financial crisis in recent history, any change that reduces the ability of the market to heal is misguided and must be rejected. The proposal from the Deficit Reduction Commission will negatively impact the housing market, further erode opportunities for homeownership across the country, and will contribute to further price declines and diminished equity for homeowners.
C.A.R. is working closely with NAR staff in Washington, D.C. to make certain that the real estate industry’s opposition to this proposal is heard and its far-reaching implications understood.
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Why, in a tea party era, is there no organized fight against Placerville’s Measure H, a proposed quarter-percent hike in the sales tax?
No one even offered a ballot argument against it.
“It’s kind of eerie,” admitted City Manager John Driscoll.
The lack of opposition may boil down to these two factors:
• The tax hike is predicted to dramatically lower utility rates that had recently skyrocketed.
• Much of the revenue from the hike will come from the pockets of outsiders, not Placerville residents.
In other words, it’s largely seen as a win-win for Placerville’s 10,000 residents.
When the city included a survey with utility bills earlier this year, it got a response that persuaded officials to put the measure on the November ballot.
“It was interesting,” Driscoll said. “Just about 80 percent were in favor of (an increase of) half a cent.”
That is, more than the two-thirds required for passage said they supported an increase of double what Measure H asks.
Expressing some nervousness, the City Council put it on the ballot at the lower rate.
Caution may be justified.
Although there is no organized opposition, that doesn’t mean everyone likes the tax, said Cathy Nerwinski, who is running for a council seat on the same November ballot.
Some folks are still sore at the council for the water and sewer rate increases required when the city had to borrow millions to make state-mandated improvements to its water treatment plant.
Nerwinski’s husband, John, a former council member, even started a short-lived recall campaign against two councilmen over the utility rates.
Sewer rates went up 88 percent, water 43 percent, after completion of the new plant in 2009.
About half the operating budget for those utilities is going to debt service, said Dave Warren, Placerville’s finance director.
The quarter-percent increase will bring the city’s tax rate to 8.75 percent – even with Folsom and Sacramento – and is expected to generate $700,000 to $1 million in new revenue.
City officials think that would allow them to cut sewer rates 33 percent and water 10 rates percent.
“If you understand the leverage Placerville has, it makes good business sense,” Warren said.
By leverage, he’s referring to the city’s unusual sales tax position.
In a recent analysis it was found to have the Sacramento region’s highest per capita sales tax revenue.
In 2008, the last year for which numbers were available, it had sales tax revenue of $313 per person while California’s median is just $129.
It stems in part from the city’s position on two tourist routes – Highways 50 and 49 – and its place as an economic nucleus for surrounding unincorporated areas. As a result, the people who will pay much of the tax increase won’t be the same ones voting on it.
The measure is due to expire after 30 years, a few years after the treatment plant’s 30-year bonds are supposed to be paid off.
Nobody likes to raise the sales tax, said Placerville merchant Peter McQuillen, but he’s hoping it will bring down the water rates.
That’s why he and other merchants, including a car dealer, have signed the pro-Measure H ballot argument.
“We’re hoping people will say yes,” McQuillen said.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/27/3058473/no-ones-squawking-about-placervilles.html#ixzz10s4jkIRq
