Sort of Tanger & Southlake, you don't have any major shopping malls. God knows there are no decent restaurants down there. About the only "tourism" tax revenue you might get are truckers filling up once they get outside the city.

Josh, It is a marketing ploy. "They Say" to count cars with out of county license plates at the shopping areas. There is also a vague idea based on sales tax revenues, "They Say" proves out of county shoppers.

There is no such study. There is no way to discount the fact that Henry residents are faced with the tax every time they spend money - it is a Henry County sales tax.

When we worked on the SPLOST Committee the bonding company Morgan & Keegan presented revenue estimates. It is in their interest to inflate those figures because they are paid based on the amount of bonded funds. Their estimates were shown as Conservative to Highly Aggressive, with $300 million as a very aggressive maximum. Their numbers were based on past performance -- not indicating potential economic pitfalls such as a collapse of the housing market or closing the Ford plant or Delta's bankruptcy. There was also no chart or consideration for median incomes rising or falling in the county.

There is money on the table and every time people can see a business or personal benefit to spending OPM, the PR Machine goes into action.

My view of SPLOST is that specific projects with stated budgets and timelines form the only justifiable basis for the tax. WE DO NOT DO THAT.

When we contemplate a tax program in Henry County the recommendations and guidelines published by the ACCG and the state laws are interpreted so that maximum flexibility and minimum accountability can be provided.

So long as no study exists a proponent of the tax can Say Anything. A corollary is that SPLOST offsets property taxes. Another claim, although non sequitur, is that special interests "deserve" a dedicated portion of the sales tax. As we know, a lie unrefuted or sufficiently repeated becomes political truth.

We have been fighting this same battle in Clarke County for a long time with regard to the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County and the Clarke County School District. See this letter-to-the-editor from a few years ago:

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/110201/let_letter5.shtml

Good points James, and nice blog. I am actually sitting in Athens eating lunch right now..

James & Josh, Backin 2001 a group of Henry citizens formed United SPLOST Advisory Committee (USAC). USAC was completely independent of county government and spent personal time and money to study and research SPLOSTs around the state. At the time Clarke County was a model of a good program.

However, the same PR mechanisms were hard at work. In the beginning Clarke promoted a limited, project-specific program and we USAC members used that model to attempt to influence Henry officials.

In the end we all learned that no tax is temporary and no concept of noblesse oblige (Benevolent, honorable behavior considered to be the responsibility of persons of high birth or rank) results when hundreds of millions of dollars are on the table. The public treasury becomes a trough from which to feed.

I recently read something good: When you define words and their usage, you control thoughts and therefore actions.

I seriously doubt that "out of county" residents pay the majority of the SPLOST taxes. They nickel and dime me to death, but the real pain comes when I buy a new car...Henry County SPLOSTs on a $25,000 car are $500. I know it doesn't matter where you buy your car, the sales tax is based on the tax rate in your home county. I suspect that SPLOST money finds it's way back to your home county. If that's true, the only people paying into Henry County SPLOSTs for sales taxes on new cars are Henry County residents. Since vehicle purchases are likely the largest expenses a person will ever pay that are subject to a sales tax, I suspect the vast majority of the SPLOST money is coming directly out of our own pockets.