Question

A county in Georgia needs a new road. The county commissioners are debating whether to pay for the road in each of these ways: (a) property tax, (b) federal grant, (c) special purpose local option sales tax.
What are the pros and cons of each funding method?

Answer 1

Answer:

(a) property tax - the pro of this tax is that wealthier, property-owning people are more likely to pay for it. The con is precisely that this type of people usually have more political power and may be able to lobby against it.

(b) federal grant - the pro is that the state would not have to immediately raise any taxes, the con is that the grant may make Georgia somewhat more dependent on the federal government.

(c) special purpose local option sales tax - The pro is that this is a sales tax, and because sales are so numerous in an economy, this tax will raise the money more quickly and easily than other types of taxes. The con is that sales tax are regressive because they affect poor and middle class people more in proportion to their income than they affect upper middle class and wealthy people.