The Trump Tax is already a boon for Brown County. According to our treasurer, Sheila Enderson, taxpayers looking to maximize deductions under pre-Trump law more than tripled the county’s year-end take:
Brown County took in roughly $1.6 million in early property tax payments before the end of 2017 from people hoping to maximize federal deductions.
…She said that at the end of 2016, the total was just $496,102 [Shannon Marvel, “Brown County Residents Prepay $1.6M in Property Taxes to Maximize Deductions,” Aberdeen American News, 2018.01.02].
We could use that sudden windfall to pay for the six-figure security upgrades that Judge Tony Portra and his colleagues say the county must install at the courthouse by February 5. But every dollar spent now is a dollar we won’t have for regular expenses in next year’s budget.
Contrary to a report in our comment section last week, Pennington County was taking early 2018 property tax payments through the end of business Saturday:
Treasurer Janet Sayler estimated Thursday that visits to her office at 130 Kansas City St. in Rapid City have been three times normal levels in recent days as homeowners and business owners have rushed in to prepay property taxes that will not be due until next year.
…Sayler said property tax prepayments cannot be officially posted by her office until the first business day in January, according to state law. But her office is providing receipts showing the date that prepayments were submitted. [Ketel Thorstenson CPA Jennifer] Konvalin said those receipts should be sufficient to classify the prepayments as 2017 expenses [Seth Tupper, “New Law Sparks Local Rush to Prepay Property Taxes,” Rapid City Journal, 2017.12.30].
So for the moment, Donald Trump can take credit for getting people to pay more taxes. Yay.