CLAIBORNE COUNTY, Tenn. — When voters head to the polls in Claiborne County, they will be asked to decide whether the county should levy a tax increase for drivers. The proposal would add $71 to the taxes people when when registering a car. After the increase, they would need to pay a total of $150, including a $29.50 fee for vehicle tagging.
Debate over the proposal started with a possible $0.30 property tax hike, according to Commissioner Whitt Shuford.
"I got a lot of feedback from people in the county, expressing that they didn't feel that that was a fair tax. It was only hitting people who owned property within the county," he said.
The "certified tax rate" is an amount counties charge on properties, according to values determined in their appraisals. Mayor Joe Brooks said the $0.30 increase would have generated around $2 million for Claiborne County.
"The intent is to increase the wheel tax by $71 and then lower the certified tax rate from $2.30 down to $2," said Brooks. "There's nothing to say that if you lower to $2, that it's going to stay at $2 because like every other county, we have a lot of expenses. Inflation, our jail food, gas for school buses, all that stuff is going through the roof."
He said the county could already see a $0.10 property tax increase in this year's budget. However, Shuford said he believed the increase on the wheel tax would make expenses fairer for all county residents.
"Your property taxes will decrease back to the $2, that they were in the 2023 budget, and an increase in your wheel tax will happen," he said. "Take for example, if you are if your property taxes increased by say $200, okay? If you and your spouse have two vehicles, then your taxes would be (a $142 increase) as opposed to the $200 increase from your property taxes. If you have three vehicles, then you'd be better off paying the property tax. But the difference between a property tax and a wheel tax is — a wheel tax is the fairest tax that can be implemented to the people.
Brooks warned that wheel tax revenues do not go into the county's general fund like property taxes do. Revenues from the wheel tax can only be used on specific kinds of expenses.
"You're either going to have another property tax increase to offset that $71 wheel tax, or local option sales tax. I think wheel taxes should only be used for specific projects, one-offs, if you will, that will have a finite end date to it," he said.
