Until the 12th of Never?

The State's continuing nincompoopery with computer systems is frustrating.

The state's decision to scrap a sales-tax tracking system is forcing the Miller Park stadium board to rethink just when it can retire the 0.1% stadium tax, the district's executive director said Thursday.

...The consultants had already concluded, based on current economic trends, that the 2014 sunset date was at risk. Now that the system used to process those sales-tax returns has come under scrutiny again, no one is willing to say when the tax can be retired.

So? Here's the answer:

From 1997 to 2002, the average annual sales-tax growth in the five-county area was 7.9%. From 2003, when the troubled state system was first installed, to 2006, the average annual sales-tax growth declined to 0.2%. The disparity has caused concerns

In other words, nobody has the faintest idea what taxes may have been collected since 2003. Although the State has numbers (+.02%/year) they vary substantially from previous history (+7.9%/year,) unless sales activity in the tax district actually DID near-drop-dead since 2002.

"Stick it to 'em" lives!