Mental Health Sales Tax goes into effect today

Merchants in San Juan County will collect an additional 1/10^th of 1% tax on sales beginning April 1. The increase will bring the total sales tax rate collected in the County to 7.8%. The Washington Department of Revenue says that it will send notices of the new tax rate to all businesses in the County which reported local sales or use tax within the last year.

The tax, which is expected to raise approximately $350,000 per year, will fund programs providing mental health and chemical dependency services and a “Therapeutic Court” designed to work with families where mental illness of substance addictions threaten the welfare of children.

The County Council authorized the tax on December 2, 2008, after hearing testimony about the value of the programs in area counties that had already adopted the tax and statistics showing that San Juan County has one of the highest percentages of adults without health insurance in the country.

County Juvenile Court Administrator Tom Kearney promised the Council that the first project undertaken with the new revenue would be expanding mental health services to schools in San Juan County and to school-age children whose welfare is affected by family members with mental illness or substance abuse problems.   Then Mental Health Tax program was authorized by the state legislature in 2005. Other Washington Counties which have adopted the tax include Clallam, Island, Jefferson, Whatcom, King, Pierce, and Spokane.