Let the sleeping dogs lie

Here we go again. The resort tax is something our elected officials just can't leave alone. That dog just wants to lie there and sleep, but the Whitefish City Council has to mess with it periodically because they can.

They don't seem to understand there's no "safe way" (pun intended) to re-work that tax without chancing losing it entirely. (Seems like there was a similar situation recently where micro-managing could screw up what was already working. No lesson learned?) Listen to your own committee.

I opened a retail business in 1997 that collected the tax for six years. There was a real battle in the beginning and during the formulation-period as the tax was new the year before.

The existing city council originally proposed a multi-tiered tax system that would drive even the bean-countin' tax man crazy — 1 percent for one category of goods, 2 percent for another category and 3 percent for another, with 0 percent or "tax exempt" for the last category.

The city council had to decide what goods fell into what category. Some councilors were retailers. Hard to be objective. Even at a flat 2 percent, the categories caused questions: Who pays a tax, in which store and for what? What a mess. Bicycle parts at one store are taxed, at another shop they're tax exempt. That's just one example of many.

Many felt the tax would cause shoppers, especially locals, to go to Kalispell. The tax would hurt business. Some did shop elsewhere. If I'm going to buy my wife a (fill in the blank), I can save money down the road.

After time, it's gotten quiet. Shhh. Leave it alone.

You can't imagine what difficulty that tiered-tax would be for the shop owner to institute accurate collections on their registers, instructions to employees and explanation to shoppers. Fortunately, some wisdom prevailed, and they settled on a middle of the road 2 percent.

Whitefish was the only resort tax city to not go to the full 3 percent and has regretted it since day one. Can that be fixed? It's hard to unring that bell.

Some years ago I was asked to head a task force to try to increase the tax to 3 percent. "Are you crazy?!" I declined. Only an elected official would try to do such a chaotic thing.

I knew there was no "safe way" to approach my fellow shop owners and Whitefish citizens without causing an old sore subject to become inflamed again. If you pick at it, it will bleed.

Some shop owners refused to collect the tax, some still have signs declaring they don't collect it. There are still some hard feelings out there, and that's from 10 years ago.

We all dislike a tax-and-spend approach to government, but a reverse spend-and-then-tax formula is sure to bring councilors' names to attention. Have we spent so much we need to raise the resort tax to cover the bills? We would like to have what new revenues could bring in, but is it worth the battle? Control the spending.

The tax has done a lot of good for this community but is a hot topic that has gotten quiet, until now.

If we are to be fair and put the possibility of a 3 percent tax on a ballot, we should make the ballot complete with a vote for/against all four options — 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent and 0 percent, no tax.

City council, are you ready to watch this bloodbath, and are you ready to see the tax voted down entirely? It could happen. This would bring property taxes up to pre-resort tax percentages. This would not be good for anyone.

City council, it's my opinion there is no safe way to wake this old dog without a fight. Personally, I'm in favor of the tax but agree it's not without flaw. Bringing this to the table again is playing with fire. Listen to your committee.

We made our bed some time ago. Live with it.

Bill Milner lives and works in Whitefish.