the valley's $700 tax trade

and whether you come out ahead depends on how much you shop.

This November, Valley voters get asked to make a trade the borough has never tried before. Say yes to a new borough-wide sales tax, one percent on most things you buy, and homeowners get a break on property taxes in return.

The break is real money. The first seventy-five thousand dollars of your primary home's value would come off the tax rolls, and for eligible homeowners that works out to about seven hundred dollars a year. The exemption is aimed at the house you actually live in, not rentals or second homes.

The other side of the trade: that one percent could bring the borough up to twenty million dollars a year, and it lands on every shopping trip. So the math hits differently depending on whether you own your home or rent.

In the cities that already run their own sales tax, the borough's cut stacks on top. Palmer shoppers would end up at five percent total, and the full city-by-city list is in the description below.

The Assembly sent this to the ballot with two members voting no, and a separate question about a five percent tax on alcohol is riding the same ballot. You've got until November to figure out which side of this trade you're on.