Dear Editor:
Property taxes are currently imposed on buildings and land only, not on financial or personal property. To ease this burden on property taxes the State authorized an “income tax” for school districts which has been very successful in funding the schools’ operating expenses.
Currently no state authorization has been given to counties to use “income taxes”, but instead, the state has authorized “county sales taxes” which Williams County currently uses to collect approximately $8 million dollars per year.
The current EMS ballot proposing a property tax is an unfair tax on agriculture. Modern farms are uniquely dependent on large investments in buildings and land needed for living incomes.
It would be good and equitable if only my house were taxed, but additional taxes on my corn and soybean fields will increase my farm EMS taxes 30 times greater than on my house alone. This is totally inequitable for the EMS personal services desired.
EMS operating expenses should be paid with our sales tax revenues already authorized, not with additional property taxes on farmland and farm buildings.
Marvin Dietsch
Edgerton, Ohio