Questioning using your tax money to help fund nonprofits

Are your taxes too high? Have you thought about ways to have your tax bill reduced?

I’m not talking about the Indiana Income Tax. I’m not talking about Hamilton County’s County Income Tax. I’m not even talking about the 7 percent State Sales Tax or the 1 percent extra sales tax on food and beverage in Hamilton County, or the additional 1 percent city-level food and beverage tax in Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, and Westfield (FAB and CIT).

I’m not talking about the Use Tax on purchases from items out of state online. Of course, we can exclude the Vehicle Excise Tax, the Gasoline Tax, the Motor Fuel Tax, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax, the 5 percent Fireworks Tax, the Riverboat Admission Taxes, and the Supplemental Auto Rental Excise Tax.

I’m not talking about the Federal Income Tax.

I’m not talking about the Excise Tax that you pay on your motor vehicle license, nor am I talking about the Airport and Airway Trust Fund Tax on airline passengers and air cargo.

I’m not talking about Federal Excise Taxes on firearms and ammunition, heavy trucks, or truck tires, and certainly we’re not talking about the Indoor Tanning Tax. (By the way, I digress: let’s make sure that you understand the 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services does not apply to outdoor tanning services).

I’m not talking about the Affordable Care Act Excise Taxes or the Cadillac Tax on expensive employer sponsored health insurance. I’m not talking about the annual excise taxes on importers and manufacturers of prescription drugs or the 2.32 percent tax on medical devices.

I’m not talking about the Heavy Equipment Rental Excise Tax. I don’t want to discuss a Prepaid Wireless Fee.

We’re not going to talk about the tobacco tax which was increased in the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. While some states have a tax on cannabis, we escape that in Indiana. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act charges were determined to be a tax on the condition of not having health insurance.

You have corporate taxes, payroll taxes, and certain tariffs that may or may not be considered a tax.

We can’t forget the Refined Sugar Tax, the Rum and Whiskey Tax, and the Snuff Tax, the Capital Gains Tax, the value added tax, the Tangible Personal Property Tax, and the Estate and Inheritance Taxes. (Those are really low currently).

Telephones and communication devices are heavily taxed. When you pay your monthly phone bill, your service is subject to a complex combination of federal, state, and local excises taxes and fees.

What tax am I talking about?

The PROPERTY TAX IN HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

Our Commissioners and County Council want to collect this tax, in part, so they can give your money away to not-for-profits. They apparently enjoy picking winners and losers in the not-for-profits category in the County.

When this came up last year, I mentioned to one or two people on the county council that I am perfectly capable of giving my own money away to not-for-profits. I can give all of the money that I want to give to them by myself. I don’t need the County to charge me, to collect money from me, to give to the not-for-profits of their choice.

To be fair, we need to look at all angles.

Are the not-for-profits doing the job that the County otherwise would be “required” to do? Governments have no money except that which is given by the people via a tax. Your dollars are what “government-funded” means. Every government program is taxpayer (you) funded. “The government will pay for it” is a misnomer. A more accurate statement is that you, the citizen, will pay for it.

What are these jobs? How can the government give your money to a non-profit? What are the criteria for selection of the not-for-profit “winners”?

Hopefully, these questions will be answered transparently by our elected representatives.

Ray Adler is a longtime attorney with offices at The Adler Building, 136 S. 9th St., Downtown Noblesville. He is also one of the owners of The Hamilton County Reporter Newspaper.