There seems to be some debate over which NFL team is “America’s Team”.  Both Dallas Cowboy fans and Green Bay Packer fans would lay claim to be fans of “America’s Team”.  I was pondering this while watching the game last Sunday – which, by the way was fantastic.  Why would a team with only 5 world championships (Dallas) even be in the running with a team with 12 world championships (Green Bay)?  The Packers were winning “Superbowls” even before they existed in that form (not to mention the first two actual Superbowls).  And…. who doesn’t like cheese?  Now you might be thinking I am emboldened by the fact that the Packers won last weekend, stunning the red hot Cowboys….. and you would probably be right.

When it comes to taxes in America, I think we could all agree that most of our taxes reflect taxes that we see in other countries. We would probably also agree that we have way too many taxes but I’ll save that for another blog.  Income taxes are common in other parts of the world.  We have sales taxes, others have VAT taxes.  Even with property taxes, many countries have real estate taxes in one form or another.  Yet, if I had to say which tax is “America’s Tax”, it would have to be personal property tax.  I don’t proclaim to be an expert in the taxation policies of every foreign country, but personal property tax is unique to America, almost $100 billion a year-unique.  Annually, thirty-nine states tax personal property and nine tax inventory.  Understanding “America’s Tax” is important if you are doing business in one of those states.  It is particularly important if you are in one of the nine that includes inventory. 

Personal property taxes would be common to both Packer and Cowboy fans, as both states tax personal property.  While we may never agree on “America’s Team” we might actually have a chance in agreeing on “America’s Tax”.  And, by the way, I respect the Cowboy fans who disagree with me on “America’s Team” (as misguided as they may be).