Portion of personal income tax can be directed to WCSO

With tax season nearly upon us, the perennial question arises for everyone signing checks and sending off large amounts to feed the coffers of state and federal agencies: what exactly is all this money paying for?

Well, Sheriff Keith Brooks wants local taxpayers to know there’s another way to do things now. You can give most of it to it the Walton County Sheriff ’s Office.

“They can now donate a percentage of their tax liability to a 501c3 organization that supports law enforcement,” WCSO Sgt. Matt Hill said. “People have never had a say in where their tax money is going. Now they can.”

Brooks, along with Hill, are doing their best to make local residents aware of their options under Senate Bill 361, the Law Enforcement Strategic Support Act, also called the LESS Crime Act, a state law which went into effect in 2023 that allows taxpayers to a portion of their state tax liability to their local law enforcement agency’s designated 501c3 organization.

“As a single person, I could donate $5,000 of my tax liability,” Hill said. “A married couple could donate $10,000. And a corporation can donate up to 75 percent of its tax liability.”

In the case of the WCSO, those donations would go to the Deputies Beyond the Badge, a law enforcement foundation created in 2023 to help supplement the funds of the WCSO in part by collecting local taxes under the LESS Crime Act’s provisions. While Deputies Beyond the Badge cannot pay for salaries or other regular compensation, it can provide the WCSO with funds for a number of other needs.

“It can be used in a lot of different ways,” Brooks said. “It can buy specialized equipment. It can go toward hiring bonuses. By using it to offset other budget line items, we can use the money we’re already budgeted for other things. It’s definitely something we can use.”

Hill said the process was fairly simple. A taxpayer can write a check and bring it to the WCSO, where they will receive a receipt they can then take to their tax preparer to offset that portion of their tax liability to the state of Georgia. Hill said they have provided step-by-step instructions and payment options at deputiesbeyondthebadge.org.

“We try to make it as easy as we can,” Hill said.

With tax bills about to come down the pike, Brooks hopes some residents take the chance to give to the WCSO and put their tax dollars to work right in their own community, rather than in the distant Capitol to unknown ends.

“It’s a win-win for everybody,” Brooks said