Sales Tax Increase Will Be Topic Of Survey Conducted In Des Moines

DES MOINES, IA. -- City leaders in Des Moines will spend $62,000 to survey residents by telephone and learn whether there is support for a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax and how the money should be used if such a tax were passed. It's been 11 years since officials put a local-option sales tax before Polk County voters, who ultimately rejected the idea.

If the survey shows there is support this time, a county-wide vote could take place in March 2018 at the soonest, the Des Moines Register reported today.

But Des Moines would not decide the matter alone. State law requires a community seeking a sales tax increase to put the item on the ballot in all contiguous communities as well, meaning each city that borders Des Moines would have to vote for approval as well.

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Des Moines Patch, or click here to find your local Iowa Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The Register story said that Des Moines could generate an extra $37 million per year if the sales tax increases by 1 cent. County-wide the added revenue is estimated at $79 million.

Polk and Dallas counties are among only six of Iowa's 99 counties that do not have a local-option sales tax. Dallas County residents will vote in November on a 1-cent sales tax increase there.

"I believe that if the ballot passes in Dallas County in November, that clearly could be viewed as momentum for the rest of the region. There's just no question about it," Des Moines Councilwoman Christine Hensley told the Register.

Since more than one-third of property in the capital city is tax-exempt, Hensley told the Register the sales-tax increase is an important revenue alternative. "We can’t be completely dependent on property tax when we don’t have a lot of property that pays it," she said.

Image via Pixabay