Since You Asked: Why am I paying a 'county tax'?

Q: I purchased some items from the Jo-Ann fabric store on Colusa Avenue in Yuba City and noticed I was charged a "county tax" above the regular tax. Is this legal? Aren't we already paying county taxes? I think this is double dipping.

A: By the time you read this, the "county tax" may no longer be listed on the store's sales receipts, a national Jo-Ann's executive told Sutter County public information officer Chuck Smith.

If Smith is just a little miffed by the "county tax," there's a good reason: The 1 percent of the total 8.25 percent sales tax collected by the Yuba City Jo-Ann store goes to Yuba City, not to the county. The opposite would be true if the store were located outside the city limits, said Smith.

If anything, your sales slip actually should have listed a "local tax," he said.

Although 1 percent does stay with the local government jurisdiction where the store is located, some stores don't even list it. The sales slip for an item bought recently at Yuba City's Target store, for example, simply listed the total 8.25 percent.

The Jo-Ann executive, Ron Vinci, told Smith that Jo-Ann got new software last year that breaks the total down in a way that makes it easier for the company to report taxes in the many states where it has stores.

Someone in the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores hierarchy must have been a little confused about California's tax setup. Not crafty, just confused.

A manager at the Yuba City store referred questions — nicely — to the company's national headquarters.

Smith emphasized that cities and counties now receive less of the total than they once did. In 1972, the Legislature raised the local share to 1.25 percent.

"But what the state gives, it can take back," said Smith, pointing out that the Sacramento solons chopped back the local share to 1 percent in 2004.

"The local share has not changed since — it remains the smallest portion. In this respect, it's like a fine paid in a local court for a ticket — the majority goes to the state," he said.

The state this year raised the sales tax another 1 percent, meaning Sutter County's tax went from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent. That makes the difference between the list price and what the sales clerk asks for that much more noticeable.

"All of the additional 1 percent goes to the state, not to local government," Smith said.

At 8.25 percent, Sutter County is among counties that have the lowest total sales tax in the state, he said.

California's first sales tax — a mere 2.5 percent — went into effect in 1933, with none of it going to local government, he said.

Imagine how the public, suffering through the Great Depression, must have felt about paying even that much.

Now, with the country in the worst recession since then, the state has raised the tax even higher — and is still in a terrible economic mess.

Since You Asked is published Tuesdays. Send questions to reporter Rob Young at the Appeal-Democrat, P.O. Box 431, Marysville CA 95901, e-mail him at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com or call 530-749-4710.