The following is written by Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow:

I thought that headline might interest a few of you!

I have good news: other people are helping to pay $400 of your taxes each year to the City of Sumner.  I’d better explain more.  As we review the budget, on Monday night, we went over sources of revenue for the City.  These include property taxes (although we’re a small sliver of what you pay to the Auditor), sales tax revenue, taxes on utilities and phones, etc.

Interestingly enough, the week before, we received a list of New Per Capita Retail Sales Rankings For Washington State Cities.  Sumner came in pretty high at Number 16 with $28,270.  That means that our retail businesses are selling goods that value $28,270 for each and every one of us who live in Sumner.  Why do we care?  Because retail sales are taxed.  When someone buys something in Sumner, it’s taxed 8.8%, which means that $28,270 in sales generates $2,487.76 in sales tax revenue.  Of course Sumner doesn’t get all of that. The City gets 16% of sales tax revenue and the rest goes to the State, County, etc.  So of that $2,487.76 in tax revenue, the City receives $398.04.  So that’s almost $400 that goes to help pay for services such as police and roads that we, as citizens, enjoy.

I know this can sound confusing, but the nice thing about sales tax is that unlike property tax or utility tax, the sales tax is often paid by those who don’t live here.  So, when your friends come to Sumner to buy a car or a piece of furniture, they’re helping to bring money into the City for police, parks, roads, events, etc. that you would otherwise have to pay.  For example, a lot of our sales tax revenue in Sumner comes from car sales.  So in reality, “tiny overhead Sumner” is slogan that’s good for those who buy a car as well as those who live here.  I don’t know about you, but I like that deal.

Like everyone else, I don’t always like paying taxes, but I understand their need and rely on the services that are funded by taxes.  The best deal is when other people are helping to fund our services for us!