About

What is Tax choice

Discretionary Taxation (tax choice) is a policy that would permit households to directly allocate a share of their tax liability between parts of the town budget. In a Discretionary Taxation program, a household that wishes to support public education, for example, could send some of their property tax dollars specifically to that part of the town budget, while a household that feels strongly about the quality of recreational facilities could allocate a portion of their tax payment accordingly.  

A resident’s tax liability is split between discretionary and non-discretionary portions. The percentage of the property tax that is non-discretionary would be used by the town government as it does currently, while the percentage of the property taxes that is discretionary would be available for the taxpayer to allocate annually when filing taxes. Households would be able to choose how funds are allocated between town departments and would be able to ‘zoom in’ on each department to allocate the funds more precisely. When choosing, residents would initially see a pie chart of the “status quo” - how the town previously allocated funds - so they could make decisions in the context of past budgets.

How will you allocate?

Every taxpayer will have a household account in an online portal. The portal will be the primary medium for allocation and will be synced with the town database to show how much of your tax is discretionary. Your past allocations will be visible in the portal along with the current allocation of funds. There may also be a separate page on the portal for departments and interest group to advertise allocation to certain funds; if put in place, residents can opt-out of seeing these advertisements.