May 18, 2008
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette on Voluntary Taxes
Voluntary tax serves as tip jar for cities
By Robert J. Smith
Harold Sargent paid $ 291 in voluntary taxes last year to help the Springdale Fire Department and the city library.
He didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart, though.
Sure, he knew he was paying an amount that wasn't required, but the business he's operated for 42 years had a new sprinkler system, and it has to pass a fire department inspection.
. . .
Enter the world of voluntary taxes, where some pay but most do not.
Springdale's got the Fire Department tax and one for its library, and there are similar taxes collected across the state.
The pay-if-you-want fees give small financial boosts to recycling centers, cemeteries, animal shelters, parks, road departments, soil conservation districts, fire departments and historic commissions.
They can be found in Bentonville, Lowell, Prairie Grove, Lavaca, Lincoln, Conway and others. Voluntary taxes help support government functions in Saline, Miller, Benton, Faulkner and Van Buren counties. "We communicate that it's voluntary," said Springdale City Clerk Denise Pearce, who's office spent $ 10, 124 last year to collect $ 69, 691 for the Fire Department and library. "I know money is tight for everyone." Government shouldn't ask residents or businesses to pay voluntary taxes, said William Ahern, a spokesman for The Tax Foundation, a Washington taxpayer education group founded in 1937. The requests are improper, Ahern said. "For any legislature - city, county, state or federal - to say, ‘It's voluntary, but you really should give it,' is unseemly and unworthy of rational government operation," Ahern said. "If they need the funds, levy the tax. If they don't need it, don't, but in no way should the government beg."
