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Town Clown Harry Thomas Jr. and the rest of the DC City Clown-cil doesn't seem to realize how good the District has it. There are thousands of commuters coming into the city each day spending millions of dollars each week. DC has no need to provide services 24/7 for these folks but reaps the tax benefits of every dollar spent.
I'd like to see a 90-day boycott by each and every person who works but does not reside in DC. No lunches, no newspapers, no coffee at Starbucks, no lunchtime errands, no happy hours - don't spend a penny inside the District for the entire summer! (Bringing lunch is good but be sure to bring a drink too. Vending machines are off-limits!)
By September 1, DC might appreciate how much is already spent inside the borders and stop trying to tap into the pockets of the suburbanites who keep the city and it's main employer, the Federal Govt, running. Clown-cil needs to learn how to manage a finite budget like the rest of us do.
I don't know about a boycott. I mean this just effects those who work for the DC city government. DC could do like Boston does and require that city workers live within the city limits. But I have a feeling that won't be happening if indeed 70% of its workforce live in the suburbs. That's the thing that always annoys me about DC versus other cities the unapologetic greed whatever it takes to suck more money out of folks' pockets they'll do it.
At the same time I could play devil's advocate and say that maybe this could be a new rule for new applicants but its not fair or right to tax someone for choosing to live in say Fairfax out of the blue. If there wasn't a problem when the person was hired there shouldn't be a new problem. for some moving to the city would be simple but for others especially those with kids it would be very difficult and simply unfair. DC shouldn't have hired them if they had a problem with them not establishing residency in the city limits.
DC has a revenue problem that is hard to eliminate by simply trying to spend less to match its lower income. Large swaths of District land are used by the federal government and are untaxable. Yet, that federal government gobbles up DC money when our police escort motorcades or secure government events. In addition, we have a lot of wonderful, but untaxable, urban park land. As well, many of the people who work here don't pay their property and income taxes here. In 2000, there were 671,678 total workers in DC. Fully 481,112 lived outside of DC, meaning that the city collected no income taxes from 71% of the workforce (District of Columbia: Department of Employment Services (http://does.dc.gov/does/frames.asp?doc=/does/lib/does/2007_District_of_Columbia_Annual_Economic_Report_I I.pdf - broken link)). I'm not arguing that DC should have the right to collect income taxes on top of what an individual pays in his place of residence, but I am pointing out how such an imbalance causes serious revenue problems. DC isn't so much greedy as perpetually starving for cash. We're looking to make up such imbalances without having substantially higher income and property taxes on DC citizens relative to neighboring districts.
The city has implemented some back-door commuter taxes. For example, restaurant taxes are 10%, whereas groceries are not taxed. We also upped our parking meter rates recently. One could argue that aggressive ticketing of illegally parked vehicles is another form of commuter tax.
I'm interested in seeing any fair proposal to raise DC revenue. At least this is a forthright effort to collect money. I've noticed, for example, that in these difficult times that VA highway patrol has been very, very active in ticketing motorists. Besides, the only people who would be affected are those who work for the DC gov't. but live elsewhere.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Okay DC, bring crime and home prices down, get out of last place in education, improve your services, get rid of those stupid speed cameras, and then we will talk about making your workers live inside the city.
Home prices are largely out of the city government's control. Demand for housing is high, but developers have decided that tight financing and lower profits make adding more units undesirable right now.
Crime is down. In fact DC's crime rate dropped faster than the surrounding region's last year.
DC schools are improving. From the 06-07 school year to the to 08-09 school year, elementary reading scores are up 11%, and elementary math scores are up 19%. Our overall proficiency rates could still stand a lot of improvement, but the statistics show a dramatic jump in just two years' time.
As for continued improvement, that will take expenditures in affordable housing, policing, and schools. That revenue needs to come from somewhere. I'm not saying I'm necessarily for taxing city workers who live outside DC, but I think it merits consideration.
I'm not a fan of photo traffic enforcement either. However, I'd rather get a ticket in the mail that bears no points against my license than get pulled over by a state trooper.
let's not forget we have the 3rd highest commercial real estate tax base in the country, even higher than the city of Chicago, due to all the expensive offensive buildings
Town Clown Harry Thomas Jr. and the rest of the DC City Clown-cil doesn't seem to realize how good the District has it. There are thousands of commuters coming into the city each day spending millions of dollars each week. DC has no need to provide services 24/7 for these folks but reaps the tax benefits of every dollar spent.
I'd like to see a 90-day boycott by each and every person who works but does not reside in DC. No lunches, no newspapers, no coffee at Starbucks, no lunchtime errands, no happy hours - don't spend a penny inside the District for the entire summer! (Bringing lunch is good but be sure to bring a drink too. Vending machines are off-limits!)
By September 1, DC might appreciate how much is already spent inside the borders and stop trying to tap into the pockets of the suburbanites who keep the city and it's main employer, the Federal Govt, running. Clown-cil needs to learn how to manage a finite budget like the rest of us do.
I'd like to see a 90 day lock out where pukes from Maryland and Virginia who don't pay income tax based upon where their income is earned are locked out of their offices.
I'd like to see a 90 day lock out where pukes from Maryland and Virginia who don't pay income tax based upon where their income is earned are locked out of their offices.
and by day 2 their employers would have leased space in Arlington or Bethesda
also don't forgot how many high earners who live in DC work in Fairfax County but don't pay VA taxes
I do wonder how many of those people who work in DC and live in MD/VA do so because they can't afford to live in a safe part of DC...
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