Mielke: Employee tax for light rail a "job killer"

Consider this blog post a preview of the June 12 meeting of the C-Tran Board of Directors.

On Tuesday, Clark County Commissioner Tom Mielke was interviewed for CVTV’s “Clark County Focus” by myself and Nicholas Shannon Kulmac, managing editor of the Vancouver Business Journal.

Find a link to the show here.

Last month, Vancouver City Councilor Jack Burkman proposed an alternative to a sales tax that would bring in revenue to help cover the operations and maintenance of a new line. As my fellow maven Andrea Damewood wrote, the idea “represents another bend in a long, twisted track circling a vote.”

Mielke, who serves on the C-Tran board with the other two county commissioners, said Burkman’s idea is a “job killer.” Businesses can’t be asked to take on a $1 per employee per month head tax, Mielke said.

At least a sales tax spreads the burden, he said.

Other topics in the 30-minute show included stormwater regulations, fee holidays for businesses and the decision to not ban smoking in county parks.

Mielke also said he has paid his property taxes, plus a $37 late fee.

When it was reported that he’d forgot, David Madore, one of three people running against Commissioner Marc Boldt, posted in the comments section that the county should send out reminders to people who don’t pay after receiving their bill. “A simple reminder mailed out in April to those that did not pay earlier would better serve our citizens. And certainly a notice after April 30 should be mailed to better serve citizens and help them to take care of the problem before they suffer progressively hurtful penalties,” Madore wrote.

Mielke said the county does not need to send out reminders. He said the county gives people enough notice.

About 50 percent of taxpayers pay their property taxes through their mortgage companies; approximately 90 percent of people who submit payments do so on time.

Mielke said he simply set aside his bill and forgot about it.

Mielke said one thing he likes about paying his bill is he receives a statement with a breakdown of where his taxes go. I pointed out that anyone can look that up online, and he said he doesn’t hear of many people who do that.

So if you don’t look up where your taxes go and you’re curious, go here and type in your address. When your account comes up, click on the header “taxes.” Then click on “tax distribution.”