Next Saturday will be a good day to see local government in action.

That's when the Kosciusko County Council will decide whether an Economic Development Income Tax will be established in this county. The meeting is at 3 p.m. in the old courtroom upstairs in the county courthouse.

If you are at all interested in the future of economic development in the county, you should attend. Regardless of what side of the issue you are on, you should attend. You should let your elected officials know how you feel about it.

But there's one thing you should do first. Be informed.

There have been several letters to the editor published regarding EDIT. All of them have been quite negative and most of them have been less than factual.

Some of them bordered on the hysterical.

This has been explained several times, but please allow me to go through it one more time.

EDIT is a tax on income. It is only assessed on those who earn money in this county. The rate proposed was 0.4 percent. Since we already have a county option income tax, that 0.4 percent is the maximum allowed under the law. Without a change in the state law that established EDIT, the tax can't be raised.

That means if you earn a gross income of $32,000 per year, your EDIT bill would be $10 per month - $120 per year. If you earn $24,000, your EDIT bill would be $8 per month - $96 per year.

Please understand. If you are retired or on a fixed income, the tax does not affect you. It is a tax on income. You have to be on a payroll to be assessed the tax.

This is one reason I believe EDIT is a more equitable form of taxation than property taxes.

Increases in property taxes cut into the income of retirees and other people on fixed incomes as long as they own property.

Certainly no one wants to pay more taxes and I have always been a proponent of tax relief at the federal level. When tax dollars are sent to Washington, they are returned to us at about 30 cents on the dollar after administrative costs. But a local tax like EDIT isn't like that. The costs of collecting and putting the tax into use are minimal. You get much more bang for the buck with local taxes.

Hopefully, wage earners will see some tax relief at the federal level over the next couple federal budget cycles. Of course, I'm not holding my breath, but that could easily offset a modest EDIT levy. And it should be reassuring to local taxpayers that their tax dollars are being put to use right here in Kosciusko County. There are other things to be considered when you look at the most recent EDIT proposal.

First of all, EDIT fosters economic development. Would anyone argue we don't need any economic development?

I would hope not because everybody in the county, not just people in cities and towns, benefits from economic development.

Property taxes here compare very favorably with other places in Indiana that have much less to offer.

I lived in one of those places. In that place, property taxes were much higher than they are here and the infrastructure was much worse.

Why?

Because the people in that place lacked vision. They failed to nurture economic development.

Why do you suppose the property tax rates in our county compare favorably with others?

It is directly and irrefutably related to economic development. In Indiana, the frozen levy property tax system hinges on assessed valuation. The higher the assessed valuation, the lower the tax rate. It is a simple equation.

The municipalities that have vision work to increase assessed valuation through economic development. That way property tax rates can be kept low and the municipality can keep up with infrastructure improvements.

An economic development - a manufacturing facility, for example - generates lots of assessed valuation for a municipality. The more assessed valuation created through economic development, the less burden there is on property taxes.

That's why places try so hard to attract industry. That's why they cut deals and abate taxes.

Another thing to consider is what the tax will fund. My understanding is that the city of Warsaw would use its share to gain some sorely needed sewer capacity. The county is considering using its share to fund some sorely needed jail space.

Now think about this for a moment. Do you suppose those are things that we can just do without? Or do you suppose those things will be funded sooner or later, one way or another? You may argue that a jail is not an economic development. I might even agree. But dozens of other counties have used EDIT for jail construction. We need the jail space. What better way is there to fund it?

There will always be those who say no to new taxes no matter what the benefit. For them, every new tax is a bad tax. That is a valid opinion, especially since the tax burden seems to continually rise.

I think we need to aim our frustrations at the people in Washington. They get the biggest share and give us the least bang for the buck.

But that is no reason to handcuff local officials who, so far, have been quite frugal with our tax dollars.

And besides, failure to address the economic development needs of our county could turn out to be a costly mistake for all of us. [[In-content Ad]]