OPINION
By Don Napier
It’s time we became more “clannish” as a community
You know there are only two ways that our city and county can generate revenue. 1) Property taxes; and 2), Sales tax. And it is pretty obvious that if we don’t collect enough sales tax we will have to raise property taxes.
That brings me to the topic of this month’s soapbox.
Why in the world do so many of you buy your automobiles outside Cumberland County? A vehicle is the largest sales tax object most of us ever purchase, and it’s downright embarrassing to see how many of them were purchased in Cookeville, Sparta, Harriman, Oak Ridge and Knoxville. We need to shop at home! And I mean shop for everything at home. We are all doing our home county and city a disservice by taking so many of our purchases out of town.
Shopping at home does so much more than just keep our sales tax in the county. It provides jobs and helps our friends and neighbors stay in business. It helps their business thrive and grow, so when the schools ask for help, they will be able to help. We support them and they support our children and our schools. It’s the domino effect, or the trickle down effect, or whatever you want to call it. It makes good sense!
It’s time we started thinking about decisions like this. We take pride in our county, our schools, our athletic teams, our churches. How would your church operate if you gave your contribution to another church out of town? It might not be a good analogy, but you get my drift. We must take care of our own. It’s time we became more “clannish.”
Recently I was talking with a marketing client, and we were discussing the turn down of the economy, and how difficult it was for small businesses to survive. He commented about the number of people who shop out of town for cars. I started watching while in traffic. I guess I just had not paid attention before, but it’s true, you see the dealer name on the back of all cars, and out of town dealerships dominate in our county. That is a sad statistic. Property taxes are going to have to be raised because sales tax collections are down. Are you contributing to the problem or the solution?
I can proudly say that both my vehicles were purchased here at home. I do business with my neighbors and friends and they do business with me. I could not face my dealer if I pulled into his lot with an out of town dealer logo on my car. An exception to this would be a local businessman who buys his car from an out of town dealer because they are business colleagues or they do business with each other.
But as for me, I take pride in supporting hometown businesses, including yours. What about you? When it comes time to trade cars, trade locally. It will make a difference!
