The Woods Cross RAP tax, and the half of it paid by people passing through

The RAP tax is Woods Cross's recreation, arts and parks tax, a local sales tax of a tenth of one percent that the city describes as a penny on every ten dollars spent. Voters approved it in 2009. By law it can be spent only on parks and playgrounds, recreational facilities and trails, and cultural arts programs and community events, and the City Council decides which projects it funds through the annual budget, which carries public hearings.

Parks, recreation and the arts, and nothing else. The money is restricted to parks and playgrounds, to recreational facilities and trails, and to cultural arts programs and community events. In a built-up city with little open land left, that mostly means keeping what already exists in good shape: replacing playgrounds, repairing courts, resurfacing and extending trails, adding trailhead parking, and expanding and updating existing parks.

No. Food, gas and pharmacy items are excluded, which is why the city can describe it as a penny on every ten dollars of ordinary shopping rather than as a tax on a grocery bill. It applies to qualifying retail sales in Woods Cross, so it lands on discretionary purchases rather than on necessities.

Anyone who buys qualifying goods in Woods Cross, whether or not they live there. The city estimates that about half of the revenue comes from people who do not live in the city. Woods Cross is a small town with a lot of retail and industry along the freeway and the rail line, so a large share of the tax is paid by shoppers and traffic passing through rather than by local households.

Yes. The renewal was a local ballot question in November 2025, and voters approved keeping the tax for another ten years. Utah law requires a RAP tax to be reauthorized by voters every ten years, so the question comes back on a fixed schedule; Woods Cross first approved its tax in 2009.

Every ten years. Utah law does not let a RAP tax run indefinitely, so it has to be put back to the voters and justified again roughly once a decade. Because Woods Cross renewed its tax in November 2025, the next reauthorization would come up about ten years after that.

No. The RAP tax is a sales tax, not a property tax, so it does not appear on a property tax notice and it is not tied to owning anything. What appears on the property tax notice are the city's own levy and the separate rates of Davis County, the Davis School District, and the south Davis fire and recreation districts.

No, and they work nothing alike. The RAP tax is a small sales tax, voted on by residents, paid partly by visitors, and restricted to parks and recreation and the arts. The city property tax is a charge on the value of a home, paid only by property owners, that appears on the annual tax notice and funds general city government. This is a description of how the taxes are structured and not financial, tax or investment advice.

A tenth of one percent, which the city describes as a penny for every ten dollars spent on qualifying items. Food, gas and pharmacy items are not included. For most households the total over a year is small, and it is paid a cent at a time on ordinary purchases rather than as a bill that arrives.