 
Eastsidedame
Member
Username: Eastsidedame
Post Number: 217
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:17 pm: |    |
Higher taxes will keep people leaving. A city income tax is bad enough...now you want to add more taxes?
Detroit should confiscate property that is arrears on their taxes more than x number of years. Three sounds reasonable. Just fence it, lock it and make it work in some capacity.
I read somewhere that one mega-slum lord has not paid property tax in 10 years! Why is he allowed to do that? Can you imagine you doing that with your home?
That property should be confiscated by the city. At the very least, it could be a Community Garden. Have you priced vegetables lately?
Someday, when we have more industry and jobs, companies will be looking at available land on which to build. We'll have it.
And the architectural gems could be saved and restored. This would be a big draw to architecture, construction and history buffs.
There's acres of property in Detroit that should be put to use. Why would I pay high taxes to live in a severely mismanaged town that directly affects my quality of life? It just doesn't make sense. |
Arc312
Member
Username: Arc312
Post Number: 58
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:25 pm: | |
agree that those higher taxes are ok when people either see BOTH short and long term benefits from the increase. In the case of our fragmented region, certain people pay disproportionately than others for the same service-type.
The example of the Danes is a great one; as a student I'm thinking how I will pay for graduate school, health insurance, and transportation, all of which I would not have to worry about If I live in a dense, social welfare state like Denmark. When you think about it, families’ largest costs are:
*Transportation
Living in denser communities keeps transportation costs down. Having higher gas costs forces people to scrap needless trips, and forces healthier transport options.
*Housing;
Having social norms that advocate modesty and not needing a large home for a small family keep costs down. Your McMansion is not only ugly, but expensive (even with the tax write-off, which if you ask me is a from of government subsidized housing)
*Education;
When one has an equitable school system that addresses inequality it does not force families to move far away to some far flung community to get a “better” education. When College is free, it gives equal opportunity to all. Higher tuition rates and mandatory FAFSA family contributions mean that college becomes exclusively middle and upper middle class. Public funded education at all levels keeps costs down for everyone.
*Healthcare;
Hospitals have to charge more to subsidize visits for people who either don’t have insurance or come to the ER for problems that could have been taken care of by the family physician.
*Retirement;
Social Security is failing because people are living too long and the system never was meant to support this many retired and idle people this long. If people actually liked their jobs (and others) they might be willing to work longer because they enjoy…
Would I be willing to pay half my salary in taxes to secure these services so that I don’t even have to worry about them? Yes. Doesn’t half of a families’ budget go towards these items anyway? Hmm….
I don’t think the American psyche will tolerate 50% in taxes, but how would one begin to get these items taken care of, like how it was perceived to be in the “Golden” 1950’s?
Collaboration and Cooperation. Get the hint Metro Detroit. Patterson’s problems are Kwame's problem, in more ways than one... |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 6183
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:27 pm: | |
quote:They just need to make the housing projects more upscale. They could do that with the extra tax money.
So the people that live in the projects trash them because they aren't nice enough? Remember it is taxpayers that are footing the bill for these "upscale" housing projects. Shit, why work when you can get an upscale apartment for free?
The willingness of people to pay more in taxes is directly related to how effectively those dollars are used. If tax rates in Detroit were based on the quality of services, they should be zero. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 2537
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:29 pm: | |
Who wants to live somewhere with zero taxes? |
Bigglenlake
Member
Username: Bigglenlake
Post Number: 11
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:31 pm: | |
PG- I think Savanah was being facetious.
The idea that Detroit will provide better services if it raised taxes is so ludicrous that I can not even respond. |
Savannah
Member
Username: Savannah
Post Number: 49
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:33 pm: | |
Sorry,Perfect, I was being a smartalec |
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 2243
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:34 pm: | |
As long as the personnel and union contracts continue to eat into more 70%(and growing every year) of the tax dollars, raising taxes will never satisfy the demand for services until expenses are controlled. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 2387
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:34 pm: | |
Arc312: Good call. If I paid 50 percent of my taxes for *only* free university education, I wouldn't be in debt on school loans.
As it is, I spend 75 percent of my income on stuff that could be publicly provided by taking 50 percent of my income in taxes. But then who would take those all-important profits?  |
Savannah
Member
Username: Savannah
Post Number: 50
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:45 pm: | |
I'm paying about 25% and getting absolutly nothing for it. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 2388
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:47 pm: | |
I'm paying about that and getting two pretty good wars for it. Other than that ...  |
Savannah
Member
Username: Savannah
Post Number: 51
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 3:57 pm: | |
Stick around, I'm sure we'll be in Darfur by 2010, then you can have 3 |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 6184
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 5:13 pm: | |
quote:Sorry,Perfect, I was being a smartalec
Ah, sorry. You never know around here sometimes! |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 5432
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 5:55 pm: | |
High taxes are good eh? tell that to the untold number of small business owners round these parts and see what they have to say. |
Bigglenlake
Member
Username: Bigglenlake
Post Number: 13
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 5:57 pm: | |
Hi taxes by definition are not good. Just ask Robin Hood and his band of merry men. |
Novine
Member
Username: Novine
Post Number: 545
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 6:10 pm: | |
Are we still arguing that taxes are a prime motivator for business location decisions? You can move your business to Salem Township and pay zero Township taxes. The township budget is funded by revenue from the local landfill. They don't levy a local millage but have enough money to fund their own fire department and pave the local roads. But there's been no rush of businesses to Salem, even with a freeway interchange at M-14 and Gotfredson and plenty of vacant land. Why? Google moved to Ann Arbor, not Salem. Why might that be? |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 6190
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 6:16 pm: | |
Google asked for and received tax breaks. They wanted Ann Arbor probably because of its proximity to U of M and the potential to recruit the young and educated labor pool it provides.
(Message edited by perfectgentleman on May 30, 2008) |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 4403
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 6:42 pm: | |
Patrick, Michigan has one of the highest small business startup survival rates in the country. |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 6194
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 6:48 pm: | |
quote:Michigan has one of the highest small business startup survival rates in the country.
Source? |
Novine
Member
Username: Novine
Post Number: 546
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 - 11:54 pm: | |
"Google asked for and received tax breaks"
Relevant how? I'm sure Google would have received tax breaks wherever they located in Michigan. In Salem their tax burden would have been even lower due to no Township taxes. But they went to Ann Arbor which has a much higher tax rate, relatively speaking, even with a property tax break. |
Rid0617
Member
Username: Rid0617
Post Number: 159
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 1:55 am: | |
I'm still in shock how high Detroit taxes are now much less raising them. |
Sixmilejones
Member
Username: Sixmilejones
Post Number: 18
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 8:11 am: | |
Hey Jhartmich, Thanks for starting the thread...it's a good one.
I vote for Professorscott.. <<<<<Put a suit on a crook, put him in a nice office, give him a fake-ass high paying job and a taxpayer funded pension, he's still a crook<<<<
That's the gist ain't it? Who here really believes that if we raise taxes City schools will reap the benefit (raise your e-hands). I'll keep my hand down 'cuz I'm pretty darn sure the money will go to pay for KK's "fact finding" junket to Bora Bora or some other island paradise. Come on. All you have to do is be on Gratiot & Common Road @ around 3:00 pm and see all the kids waiting for the SEMTA bus to take them back home across 8 mile. Innercity kids don't even have schools close to home anymore or the education accorded suburban kids. It's pathetic!
Nobody's going to convince me higher taxes will change that.
Jones |
Soulhawk
Member
Username: Soulhawk
Post Number: 357
Registered: 04-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 10:37 am: | |
Recently. I was considering buying a house in Indian Village. I could not handle the idea that my monthly tax bill would be higher than my monthly mortgage payment. |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 4413
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:25 am: | |
ok, not necessarily survival rate - couldn't find that number, but it's sixth in the 2007 Small Business Survival Index (.pdf)
Flip through the document - it shows relative rankings for a number of items, including taxes.
Michigan is even low in the number of full-time-equivalent state and local government employees per 100 residents at 4.82. Wyoming's the highest at 8.89, NY is 39th at 6.17.
quote:The "Small Business Survival Index" tries to make clear the relative governmental burdens placed on entrepreneurship among the states, so that business owners and their employees, elected officials and citizens in general, can better grasp the competitive position of their respective states. |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 6232
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:28 am: | |
Novine - Any decision a business makes is based on a combination of factors, taxes being a big one though. If you know anything about Google's hiring practices you would realize Ann Arbor is a better fit for them culturally speaking than Salem. To be blunt, Google is run by a bunch of liberals who are looking for "Googley" employees. What better place in Michigan than Ann Arbor?
They were able to get the tax breaks they wanted and locate in an area that suited them. The Google office in AA is largely symbolic anyway, the 1000 jobs Grahnolm promised are probably never going to materialize and they are not doing technical work there anyway. They are lower paid ad sales jobs.
Building a 'Googley' Workforce
Corporate Culture Breeds Innovation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10 /20/AR2006102001461.html |
Bigglenlake
Member
Username: Bigglenlake
Post Number: 19
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:29 am: | |
Watch out Lilpup. Some folks don't like it when you present them with facts. |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 4414
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:34 am: | |
Considering that one of Google's co-founders is a UMich graduate, and that UMich is one of the institutions involved in Google's book scanning program, it's not surprising they looked at Ann Arbor. |
Novine
Member
Username: Novine
Post Number: 547
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:57 am: | |
In an economy where companies are shedding jobs left and right and few companies are hiring, PG slams on the one company that made an effort to come to Michigan, is anticipating hiring a lot of people and is making an effort to grow, not contract. Why? Because Google is run by "liberals" and is only employing "lower paid ad sales jobs". Who knew that the only worthwhile jobs are those created by conservatives and that we should be turning our nose up at those working at Google. |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 1367
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 7:31 pm: | |
So by the observation, they should raise taxes to 50%, then we should REALLY have a great economy.
"The only way to grow an economy is with public investments."
This is TOTAL nonsense. Ivory tower gibberish.
Private investing/savings built this country.
(along with hard workers etc. thats another story)
FDR's Depression plan long term sucked much of the wealth and incentive of out the economy.
Statistically, a huge population SHOULD have low gov't employees per population. |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 4422
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 7:55 pm: | |
State Rankings of Top Corporate Income Tax Rates
#5 Michigan 1.9%
#7 Texas 4.5
#21 Tennessee 6.5
#25 North Carolina 6.9
#41 New York 8.775
#42 California 8.84
State Rankings of Top Corporate Capital Gains Tax Rates
#5 Michigan 1.9%
#8 Texas 4.5
#22 Tennessee 6.5
#26 North Carolina 6.9
#42 New York 8.775
#43 California 8.84
State Rankings of the Number of Government Employees
(Full-time Equivalent State and Local Government Employees Per 100 Residents)
#6 Michigan 4.82
#9 California 4.99
#18 Tennessee 5.36
#26 Texas 5.59
#31 North Carolina 5.77
#39 New York 6.17
The only states more populous than Michigan (per 2000 Census) that had a lower ratio were #2 Pennsylvania (4.57) and #4 Florida (4.79) |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 608
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 9:03 pm: | |
I'm starting to wounder if our city is run by some of those people I described in my "Haters" Thread over in the Non Detroit section. Either that or they have no idea what they are doing. They are all crooks or idiots, and the nice ones need to toughen up. All in all, they don't seem to care about Detroit or it's citizens. There are a few good strong ones, but not nearly enough.
This is a good topic with a lot of great responses. I really don't think Detroit needs higher taxes. I agree with the seeming majority here. Current services need to increase before taxes increase. The only tax increases should be bonds for adjustments made to update infrastructure and systems to save money, and to slowly get this budget roller coaster under control.
Transparency is needed because it makes sense. Everyday residents, as well as "experts" from all over the world should be able to understand the basic cash flow of the city funds and tax payer money. That way you have a ton of people critiquing a system that would benefit all of us. They'd each have there own little expertise, and they'd all see what was happening. That is how to get things under control. Suggestions are what make it work. You have to listen to every body's needs. Even big companies should be viewed as just another citizen. A city is like a brain. Each of us are a neuron, with our own little things to add. We can't do all the work alone. United we are a society. It's the way a successful city operates. |
Miketoronto
Member
Username: Miketoronto
Post Number: 878
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 9:25 pm: | |
Forget raising taxes in the City of Detroit. What needs to happen is the suburbs must take on some of the cost of services in the city and on a metropolitan wide basis. The time has come for tax sharing between all the cities of Metropolitan Detroit.
If Detroit needs some more tax revenue then that revenue should be divered from the tax base of richer communities like Oakland County.
Same goes if Inkster needs more tax reveune, etc.
This is what has happened in Joburg, where taxes were harmonized across the metropolitan area along with municipal government. The result is that rich suburbs are paying to bring up service levels in the poorer inner city and poorer suburbs.
It is a win win, as services become great across the entire region, and the poorer areas start to attract the middle class again who end up paying taxes.
Share the wealth.
(Message edited by miketoronto on May 31, 2008) |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 4423
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 9:37 pm: | |
That will never work as long as there's a hint of corruption or waste in the city in need. |
Nainrouge
Member
Username: Nainrouge
Post Number: 1788
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 9:39 pm: | |
Google didn't move to Salem because Salem smells like a landfill most of the time. |
Nainrouge
Member
Username: Nainrouge
Post Number: 1789
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 9:47 pm: | |
quote: guess people are voting with their feet that they are NOT the happiest people in the world.
Yeah, I would like to have some of Denmark's problems. From the same article:
"The mixture has served Denmark well, and its economy barreled ahead in 2006 by 3.5 percent, one of the best performances in Western Europe. The country is effectively at full employment." |
Jasoncw
Member
Username: Jasoncw
Post Number: 511
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 11:24 pm: | |
Like others have sort of said, I don't think it's as much about how high or low the taxes are, it's about how worthwhile the taxes are perceived to be. People wouldn't mind paying high taxes if they felt like they were getting what they paid for.
I think part of Denmark's economic success is that people can take more educational and business risks, and this can lead to more passion and innovation. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 619
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, June 01, 2008 - 1:58 am: | |
Agreed.
I like the idea of Suburban help. It would be a nice Christma.... Holiday present to raise funds for Detroit's Aquarium restoration. That would be a great start.
Of course, we would have to do something for them too.
Could you imagine the Suburbs raising funds for the Belle Isle Aquarium as a peace offering to Detroit? It could be like the Statue of Liberty was to NYC. LOL, Detroiters wouldn't know what to do.
:::Sigh:::
We can dream. |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 6243
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Monday, June 02, 2008 - 1:59 am: | |
quote:Because Google is run by "liberals" and is only employing "lower paid ad sales jobs".
Novine - I am not slamming Google for coming here, I am glad they are here, however minor their presence may be. I am slamming Granholm though because she put out a press release that was re-printed as fact by the news media in the middle of a campaign that was largely false. As it was pitched, most people thought that Google was creating 1000 technology jobs in Michigan.
That was not the case but a mere estimate of POTENTIAL jobs that may happen somewhere down the road. And the jobs were not technical in nature. There is just as much of a chance that the office in AA will be closed. It was just another piece of BS from one of the worst governors we have every had. |
Lilpup
Member
Username: Lilpup
Post Number: 4426
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 02, 2008 - 11:56 am: | |
There's absolutely no reason to believe Google's Ann Arbor office will close. Just as there's no reason to believe Google might not expand here.
Kudos to the Governor for keeping the state going in really bad times with an incompetent in the White House who has no interest in developing any energy policy when the country needs one. |
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2660
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 6:30 am: | |
Paying higher taxes as "something bad" here in the U.S. is often the belief that conservatives spew out whenever a "let's share the wealth liberal" comes along and advocates sharing the wealth. All of a sudden, according to the conservative, the liberal wants a "socialist society," with free college education and free health care, or heaven forbid a "communist society," funded by the wealth of the rich. Didn't conservatives accuse FDR of attempting to create such a society with the New Deal programs?
The conservative wants to continue his privileged lifestyle and pass it down to his children and his grand children, so he advocates lower taxes. If public education or access to higher education is available to all citizens, then how is the conservative's children going to continue to live their privileged lifestyle if they must compete for jobs, not only with their classmates from West Bloomfield, but with classmates from low-income areas outside of West Bloomfield?
I remember one of my teachers saying that public education was designed to make good citizens out of its students, not captains of industry. The rich always sent their children to private schools or had tutors educate them. The only reason parents in West Bloomfield don't send their kids to expensive boarding or private schools is because their tax dollars pay for the same kind of education, and they don't have to worry about students from lower income families competing with their children because those students DON'T live in the school district. How could they? Their parents don't have the same means or education as the parents living in West Bloomfield. |
Sean_of_detroit
Member
Username: Sean_of_detroit
Post Number: 970
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 10:27 am: | |
The more I think about it, the more I disagree. Detroit, in my opinion, does not need more services, it needs less of them. Meaning, they do so many things so terribly, that Detroiters (such as some comments above reflect) actually believe they are getting nothing from those departments... in other words, they are getting nothing from paying some of those taxes. It would make more sense... and maybe this is totally crazy here... it would make more sense to drop at least some of those services all together, and either lower taxes, or provide the existing services really well. As it currently stands, one has to pay for police service that never responds. Sense it never responds, one also has to come up with the money for a state of the art security system, and astronomically priced insurance. One or the other would be fine, but both is a problem.
Of course, you can't totally drop the police department, so that may be a bad example. However, the same can be applied to many other city run departments. How many home owners fix there own streetlights on their street? Yet those people still pay taxes for getting that light working. That is completely ludicrous. It's like paying someone to install new windows on your house, then doing all the work yourself because the workers simply never showed up. Then you have the majority that can't do it themselves. What happens when they complain? They are laughed at! That is all not to mention that fixing something that is the cities job is illegal and dangerous...
Right now, it is possible to open a ton of businesses in Detroit because so many people and areas are completely under served. Eventually, that is going to end though. If we want to keep attracting businesses beyond that point, and attracting the ever important competitive environment, then we need to make it possible. It's not right now in many areas of Detroit. Unless things are changed now, these businesses are not going to want change... as many will end up getting used to being the only provider in town. That will mean high prices, and a lack of general competition.
These developments are nice, but the current sunny outlook... the one that is being provided by all that action in our CBD and some other areas will be grinding to a halt pretty quick without the necessary changes to our basic structure. It's nice to see the uprooting of all the corruption in the city, because that means there are people working on this (thank you!)... but there is still much to do that is not being touched.
I don't know what the answer is. It seems like there are some pretty big mountains we are climbing. It sometimes feels like a scene from one of those old movies. You know, where the travelers are climbing a nearly unclimbable mountain, only to get to the top and see several more mountains in the distance that look twice as treacherous. I have little to say about the whole situation in the way of encouragement or answers. The only thing I can think of is comparing it to losing weight. Obese people are able to lose weight all the time, only to quickly gain it back. Many often don't realise the secret is so simple (at least in theory). It's a lifestyle change. A healthy lifestyle is the answer, not little diet binges that don't last.
That's all I got...
I try to follow that basic idea, hoping it's right. Whatever I am doing, I try to think about a goal that is sometimes outside of what I am doing. Everything I do at least takes that goal in mind. That goal changes, but is always in the realm of the equivalent of trying to make this city slightly better... or make it easier for others to make it better.
It's a lifestyle choice.
For those who really just want to live there lives, and not be a part of this bizarre fight...
In Livonia, I knew a family that lived off the extremely main street of Farmington Road, between I-96 and 5 Mile. Being close to the freeway, every weekend all those visiting Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Pontiac from Livonia would often travel this route after leaving bars and clubs. They would often stop at the 24 hour bakery or gas stations down the street. Every morning this family would get up and clean the garbage strewn along the street, and on their lawn. Likewise, the road was traveled at high speed by garbage trucks traveling from other neighborhoods after picking up trash. Often, they would leak garbage, and the family would come home to garbage on their lawns, they would pick it up without much complaint. Not only on their lawns, but occasionally on neighbors lawns, and the very large park across the street.
It was just what they did. I t was part of their daily lifestyle. It shouldn't have been that way, but it was.
Just saying, Detroit proper is not the only area that goes through crud that residents shouldn't have to deal with. Sadly, there aren't many places left where you can just live your own life. That is especially true in any urban area.
(Message edited by Sean_of_Detroit on July 01, 2008) |
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 2300
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 10:39 am: | |
Paying higher taxes is bad especially in this region becuase personnel takes the majority of. For example, some cities pay 0.70 per tax dollars in wages and benefits, leaving only 0.30 services. Detroit is probably very close to those numbers. Personnel has to be brought under control.
IMO government needs to be returned to the people and taken from the bureaucrats and the unions. To mush money is wasted on non-essential things such as salary and benefits. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 7394
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 10:42 am: | |
Higher taxes would in Detroit would not lead to improved services. If you want to know where the money would go, please see Kwame Kilpatrick Mega-Thread. |
Perfectgentleman
Member
Username: Perfectgentleman
Post Number: 7437
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 11:21 am: | |
quote:Kudos to the Governor for keeping the state going
Huh?
Royce - The "wealth" is being shared, billions of dollars of it. |
Miketoronto
Member
Username: Miketoronto
Post Number: 909
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 11:27 am: | |
Detroit does not need higher taxes. What Detroit needs is an accountable city government, and tax sharing with the suburbs.
As I have stated before, Joburg, started a metropolitan wide council with taxes pooled, and it has helped clean up the inner city and bring it back to life. Amazing results.
Everyone has to pitch in. |
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2661
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 1:31 pm: | |
Miketoronto, the metro council is a great humanitarian concept, "let's share the wealth with all." Glad to see that some human beings on this planet can see the benefit of pooling resources. That will never happen in Metro Detroit. Just read the responses on this forum.
Even if Detroit showed fiscal responsibility, and KK was not the mayor, the suburbs would never agree to pooling any kind of taxes, let alone any kind of power with the city of Detroit. Birmingham does not want to levy more taxes on its citizens to help with the homeless problem in Detroit, let alone use that money to build a homeless shelter in Birmingham.
Also, the suburbs don't want to share in the BURDENS that Detroit faces as a major city. They're content in letting Detroit deal with the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the aged. How many adult group homes or convalescent homes are in West Bloomfield as a percentage to the number in Detroit?
Regarding schools, how many suburbs are willing to share their tax revenue with Detroit to help DPS get out of its budget crisis? How many parents in West Bloomfield or Birmingham are willing to agree to a decrease in per pupil spending on their child to help a child in Detroit take an instrument home from band class?
Now, to be fair, Detroit also does not want to share its limited resources or power with the suburbs. So we end up in a stalemate: no one willing to sacrifice something for themselves to benefit everyone. When Michigan reaches hardships like those found in Mississippi or Arkansas, then maybe the gloves will come off and the city and the suburbs will work as one. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 2584
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 8:07 pm: | |
"Also, the suburbs don't want to share in the BURDENS that Detroit faces as a major city. They're content in letting Detroit deal with the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the aged. How many adult group homes or convalescent homes are in West Bloomfield as a percentage to the number in Detroit?"
Yes Royce. That is really more the issue. It can be essentially argued it isn't Detroit's fault that its taxes are what they are. After all, it has to carry a much higher burden then the rest of the metro area. Even moreover, a concentration of poor people leads to a myriad of further problems. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 7440
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - 8:17 pm: | |
quote:Regarding schools, how many suburbs are willing to share their tax revenue with Detroit to help DPS get out of its budget crisis? How many parents in West Bloomfield or Birmingham are willing to agree to a decrease in per pupil spending on their child to help a child in Detroit take an instrument home from band class?
A tough argument, considering how the district is run. People really don't care for throwing good money after bad with no prospect of improvement in administration. |
New threads cannot be started on this page. The threads above are previous posts made to this thread.