BLANCHESTER — Questions regarding a proposed village earnings tax will be addressed at Thursday night’s council meeting.

“I’m going to give a good talk on that and more,” Blanchester Councilmember Don Gephart told the News Journal Wednesday. “I’ve got a ten-minute speech. It’ll have the background, the history about the tax.”

Gephart said he’ll cover the most frequently asked questions about it, adding tht he would prefer to address all aspects of it at the meeting.

The 1-percent earnings tax received its first reading at the June 14 council meeting, receiving a 4-2 vote approving the reading. Councilmembers Chad Hollon and Reilly Hopkins voted against it.

The proposed income tax on earned income and proceeds would go to “general municipal operations, maintenance and new equipment.”

It was first discussed at the March 22 council meeting as an emergency five-year 1-percent earnings tax and there were discussions, at the time, of it being put on the November ballot.

This comes after a different 1-percent income tax was voted down by 64 percent of voters in last year’s election.

“We need the money,” said Gephart at the previous meeting. “I think it should be permanent and non-ending,”

Gephart also believes it should be set up so that some citizens, such as elderly residents and veterans, should not have to pay the tax.

The village council meeting will start at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Village Municipal Building, 318 E. Main St.