Sales Tax Officially Up In Palm Springs

You probably won’t notice it, but shoppers now have to pay an extra one percent on everything they buy in Palm Springs.

“Most of the customers are tourists. They’re here to have a good time so a percent is a percent. They don’t think about that penny,” Marianne Hunzinger, owner of Marianne of Palm Springs, said.

“So if you buy a pack of incense for one dollar, it will cost you an extra penny,” Joy Meredith, the president of the Main Street Merchants, said.

Voters approved Measure J this past November, and it’s now officially in action — raising the city’s sales tax to 8.75-percent for the next 25-years.

So for a one hundred dollar purchase, you’ll now pay 108.75 as opposed to 107.75.

There’s two sides to that penny.

“We’re already dealing with high gas prices, we’re dealing with all kinds of things right now,” tourist Lachoka Burris said.

The city now can look ahead, though, and boost downtown business.

“Now people can really start thinking about some creative new ideas and that’s going to be a lot of fun,” Meredith said.

The sales tax increase will raise about 200 million dollars to revitalize downtown. Roughly 40 million of that will go towards the desert fashion plaza mall.

It doesn’t all fall on the backs on mom and pop shops.

“We have all these chain stores in Palm Springs now: Walmart, Home Depot, Leowes. I think that’s where a lot of the money is going to be coming from those bigger places that do millions a year,” Meredith said.

“A one percent sales tax raise isn’t horrible for everything we’re getting out of it,” Melanie Locicero, manager of Sinfulicious, said.

“We live in paradise, hence it’s worth to pay the other penny,” Hunzinger said.

Money may not buy happiness, but it can help spruce up our little slice of paradise.