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By CATHY BUSSEWITZ
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Shoppers who plan to buy big-ticket items like cars or boats this week may want to wait until Friday, when state sales taxes will fall by 1 percent and vehicle license fees will drop statewide.
But for many consumers, it’s too early to tell whether the extra money in their pockets will make a noticeable difference.
Gov. Jerry Brown tried for months to convince at least a few Republican lawmakers to join Democrats in extending the tax and fee hikes and to put them to a statewide vote, but failed.
As a result, the sales tax rate in Sonoma County will drop from 9 percent to 8 percent in most cities and county areas, and from 9.5 percent to 8.5 percent in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park.
The statewide sales tax was hiked 1 percent in 2009 to help bridge a ravine of a budget gap. Vehicle license fees also were increased in 2009 from 0.65 percent to 1.15 percent, and those fees will return to 0.65 percent on Friday.
As a result, a driver renewing registration for a 2007 Toyota sedan valued at about $15,000 will pay about $75 less. Currently, the vehicle license fee is about $172, which is part of the total registration expense of about $300.
However, the savings could be offset somewhat if the Legislature votes to raise the registration fee by $12.
It’s unclear what impact the lower sales tax rate could have on the local economy, said Ben Stone, executive director of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.
“Most people would live with them if they were raised,” Stone said of the tax rates. “This may tip the decision on a car, or a major purchase, if you’re going to spend $5,000 or $10,000 on furniture.”
Some retailers said it would take more than just a 1 percent drop in the sales tax to push people over the edge to make a major purchase.
“If a person has a need, whether it’s a big ticket or small ticket item, they’ll probably move forward on it,” said Paul Pedersen, co-owner of Pedersen’s Furniture in Santa Rosa. “A 1 percent change probably won’t motivate them. If they were going to drop it in half or have a tax holiday, that makes a difference.”
Still, the extra money could make a difference.
“I think in this economy, we notice things a lot more than maybe we did a couple or three years ago, and I think many of us are at the point where we’re more careful,” said Jennifer Yankovich, CEO of the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce. “We watch our pennies at the gas pump.”
At the Department of Motor Vehicles office on Corby Avenue in Santa Rosa, Bill Bhader, a gardener from Rio Nido, got his newly purchased trailer registered on Tuesday instead of waiting for the lower rate. He said he needed the vehicle for work.
The rate change was good news to A.J. Schumaker, 23, a chef who lives in Santa Rosa and commutes to Oakland and is planning to purchase a car soon.
“I’m glad I didn’t get it earlier,” Schumaker said. Even so, he estimated his own savings from the lower registration rate would probably amount to the cost of a day’s commute to work.
The sales tax change will cost the state about $4.5 billion per year, and the lower vehicle license fees will cost about $1.3 billion annually, according H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance.
“The way the economy is right now, I’m sure that will help a lot of people, but I think the sales tax goes toward important things,” said Nicole Griffith, 22, a Santa Rosa Junior College student who lives in Sonoma. She said public colleges like hers have been cutting classes and raising fees, and stronger sales tax revenue could help the situation.
“I’m sure they need the money now,” Griffith said.
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@CountyWorker.
Here’s a quote from Charles De Gaulle you might want to keep in mind and plan accordingly:
“The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”
Cut, Cut, Cut, I need more overtime. Every essential shift they cut has to be back filled… Cut some more, I will just make more money. Idiots. Make me rich, I dare you….
I sure hope the National Guard is at my corner when it all hits the fan, as I don’t trust the Police at all. especially the Windsor Cops.
We just may need our Military to save us from the beasts.
I’ve said it before… what’s about to happen to all the public employees is beyond criminal!
Not only did they put up with all the crap they had to endure, wasting years of their lives working in some mindless bureaucracy, but they actually PAID UNION DUES! And many STILL ARE!
They’re getting it coming AND going!
Knowing as we all do that these people will NEVER see the “retirement checks” they’ve been promised, it must be very painful to see that Union money taken from your check!
If I were a Public Employee Union member I would be FURIOUSE!
Many people who bought a house they couldn’t afford knew that damn well when they bought them. Retired Public Employee Union members actually believe they can afford their current standard of living! And for good reason… they were told they could! PROMISED!
But it was a lie, a shell game, a ponzi scheme, a big fat house of cards upon which so many people have built their futures.
The tax payers, the VOTERS should have to pony up & make good in those promises. But the reality is, that just can’t happen. The hole is too deep. It’s too big NOT to fail. It’s over.
You may very well “move to Arizona” but it won’t be because you want too, it’ll be because the hell of the AZ desert is the only place you’ll be able to afford to live.
Wait until that fake $4 billion dollars that the state is hoping for fails to materialize in six months.
The county will really feel the impact at that point. But, of course, the county and cities won’t plan ahead for that guaranteed crisis. They’ll just continue spending and spending and spending and spending.
I seem to recall last year when the state budget literally failed at about the 3 month point. Anyone else recall that?
@About
When the checks from the bankrupt state of Cal. stop coming, then the party will really start.
Supporting the unsustainable may feel nice, but the thud at the bottom of the fiscal mineshaft will be…disturbing.
I agree about the welfare state goodie bag for illegals, and I appreciate your hard work over your career, but you were lied to by your union and the supes that approved the fantasy contracts.
Nobody wants to hurt you for their own entertainment or because we think you didn’t work hard enough.
But the bill is coming due for the lies we were all told, and sadly, we will all have to accept reality.
There will never be enough money in the whole world to pay off the obligations they crammed up our…noses.
The party is over.
Unsustainable means just that.
They are leading us to the collapse of everything, even CALPERS. ( Yes, CALPERS will be worthless ).
The collapse of society should be interesting to watch. Maybe they will call in the Army to save us from our corrupt and brutal police like Egypt.
It is too late.
Also, you can cuss me for taking advantage of the system, then save a bit for all the welfare money shipped to other countries by illegal aliens. Pensions are 7% of the state budget, welfare programs are over 50%… You have no clue about the fight you are fighting. Party on….
Josh,
No sympathy? Fine, then I will have no guilt about taking my retirement before you can change the rules on me. Good luck cleaning up the mess. I am moving to Arizona.
Government mentality is that it always deserves to remain the same size or expand. It doesn’t. No sympathy here for the cuts because everyone else in this state is cutting, too.
Here we go again, they lower the tax rate and license fees which lowers the amount of money the state takes in. So now they will cut money and programs, again, from the people that need it most, the working poor and disabled.
Why not take more taxes from the people that can afford it…the rich!!
CA Republicans growing a spine perhaps? I’ll reserve praise for now. Let’s see if they keep fighting or end up caving like they always have in the past.
Are we going to get a refund on the outrageous license fees we had to pay this year before the tax expired?
Also while the state’s at it drop the SMART train sales tax in Sonoma and Marin. Give the taxpayers a break and start the economy going again.
California is the most overtaxed and under served state in these United States.
Ahh!
The diet begins.
Time for Sacramento to trim down…a lot.
Kudos to the Republicans for holding the line against insatiable Bigger Govt. Democrats.
This headline should read “State cancels confiscation of $5.8 billion from struggling taxpayers”.
Or “History is made! A temporary tax actually expires!”
Why do we consider it normal to keep feeding wildly bloated govt, and talk in terms of how hard they will be hit?
The only people who ever get hit are the suckers stupid enough to still be working and paying taxes.
California has become a welfare state, with just over half the residents leeching off the other half.
Full collapse and failure is imminent, and welcome.