OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — This week, the Oshkosh City Council will discuss whether or not raising the city’s sales tax would be beneficial. In order to raise the tax, Oshkosh will need the state's approval.
- Oshkosh City Council member DJ Nichols says a higher sales tax could be a way to lower property taxes for Oshkosh residents.
- Wisconsin’s state sales tax is 5%, but each county can add an additional 0.5% and earn the extra revenue.
- Winnebago County is one of two counties that does not charge an additional 0.5% in sales tax.
“We’re looking at ways to not have to increase property taxes, and this is just one of the tools that we could have in our tool belt,” Oshkosh City Council member DJ Nichols says.
That tool, according to Nichols, is sales tax.
“We have things like EAA, where we have 700,000 people come to the area, but the city receives no money from that because all that sales tax revenue goes directly to the state,” he says. “Those 700,000 people that are spending millions of dollars in Oshkosh, could be contributing to our tax levy.”
Wisconsin has a 5% sales tax on certain goods.
Currently, each county in Wisconsin can charge an additional 0.5 % in sales tax, and that additional revenue is given directly to the county.
Winnebago and Waukesha Counties are the only two counties in the state that do not charge the extra sales tax.
Nichols drafted a resolution to ask the state to allow The City of Oshkosh to charge the additional sales tax, since the county will not.
“If that were to happen, we would keep all that money in Oshkosh,” Nichols says.
The council will vote whether or not to approve the resolution at the July 8 meeting.
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Tammy Russell lives in Oshkosh and currently works as the manager of 143 Expressions on Main Street.
She says people will adjust, if the sales tax is eventually implemented.
“Nobody likes it, but we do need things paid for, and either you pay it that way or you pay it another way,” she says.
Other Oshkosh residents, who did not wish to go on camera told NBC26 that they’re very against the sales tax idea, especially after a rise in Oshkosh property taxes already this year,
“I think sales tax is a scary thing to talk about, it does sound like we’re trying to raise taxes, and that’s not true at all,” Nichols says. “We just want to make sure that the people who visit our town are contributing the same or more than the people that actually live here.”
