Local Taxes

Everyone is familiar with Washington's excesses with your tax dollars, but you may be surprised to learn that your local taxes are just as wasteful.

The monthly property tax assessment in some areas is nearly as large as the house payment. City and county governments continue to soak their constituents for things that give very little benefit to the taxpayer.

Chief among these sink holes for the tax dollars are light rail and sports stadiums.

Light Rail: Light rail, sold as a way to cut back on traffic and since it is electric, reduce pollution. This self-sufficient system would ease the burden of those that do not use cars, buses, or friends to get to the 'down town' area. Everybody is supposed to benefit from light rail. Two fair questions, "Has anybody seen a reduction in traffic? Do enough people ride the system to make it self sufficient?" The odds are good that the system, with all of its costs, becomes an added burden to the taxpayers. Reference the 'Bridge to Nowhere'.

Sports Stadiums: Public funding does not finance all sports stadium, but a lot are. These gems of tax largess get sold to the public in many ways. First is the threat. If a new facility is not built, then the team will go somewhere else. The team owners are a special elite bunch. In most businesses, their owners have to buy property for their business, build the business, and attract customers. But when a sports franchise owner decides he needs new digs for his team, he calls on the public to build the arena for him so he can rake in the millions from the faithful attendees. Selling the idea to the public takes some doing but a full court press is applied. First, they issue the threat of leaving town. The threat is signaled far enough in advance to condition the public that something is afoot.

Then the serious selling takes place. The new stadium is sold as a plus to everyone. The new stadium will generate a lot of business for the city. Tax revenues will increase, especially with the higher hotel taxes from those stouthearted visitors to our city.

So we build the stadium. You would think that with all of that newly generated tax revenue that your taxes would go down, - huh- are you kidding! Now you have to buy a seat license and pay a lot more to see the game or event. Wait a minute, even though new taxes are being generated, and we just voted a new tax event to pay for the new stadium, why have the ticket prices gone up? Yes, to prevent their precious team from leaving, the only thing that has changed is the total take from their pockets. The big beneficiary is the team owner. He does not have a stake in the new stadium but rakes in the benefits. The real losers are the majority that doesn't go to the events at the stadium. Their costs have risen with no benefit to them.

It is your money.

Cheers
-Robert-