Ballot initiative could be beginning of the end of STL city earnings tax (St. Louis: sales, crime rate)

[Marksman84]

Very interesting....

Ballot initiative could be beginning of the end of city earnings tax | Political Fix | STLtoday (http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2009/12/ballot-initiative-could-be-begining-of-the-end-of-city-earnings-tax/ - broken link)

Of course, if the earnings tax is 86ed, then one of or a combination of things are likely to happen:

- St. Louis City raises its Sales Tax (or similar source) significantly (one tax for another);
- St. Louis City substantially reduces its municipal services/programs - my wife and I would hate to see the City's great parks (Forest and Tower Grove especially) get nasty and dirty;
- St. Louis City merges with St. Louis County as a semi-socialist economic solution.

Thoughts? Curious to see the City peeps perception vs. the County/Outlying areas peeps perception.

[flynavyj]

If the earnings tax is cut, it'd make the people working in the city, yet living in the county happy i'm sure. I don't necessarily mind that i pay taxes to StL city even though i don't live there, but i'm sure there are other people who are peeved about that.

IF they raise sales taxes i think it'll put a damper on commercial construction in terms of businesses and retail, not that there's a ton right now, but as the city attempts to "revitalize" itself, new businesses will pop up, and higher sales taxes are going to make people more likely to shop other places (if the taxes are significantly higher) which considering the small number of businesses in the area compared with the relatively large number of workers in the area, i could imagine a somewhat "substantial" increase in the tax to compensate for what would be a substantial decrease from the earnings tax.

Service cuts would probably happen, lower the price enough that you can get your budget under control, but hopefully not see a decline in the general appearance of parks, roads, buildings, etc...Do more with less.

City County merger would probably be an awesome thing for the city! but I'd expect it to take more than a small tax issue to make that happen. I'd love to see it though, it would provide the city of st. louis with some much improved tax base, a larger footprint in the area, lower the crime rate per capita (get us off that most dangerous city list) and generally give better options for future growth, etc. Overcoming the feudal mayoral system in the hundreds of municipalities would probably be the biggest hurdle to overcome.

[moorlander]

No one thing would be more important to both the city and the county than a Merger. Economies of scale would reduce taxes, redundancies etc etc and we would finally put an end to all of the local muni's competing against themselves for retail and business relocations.

As far as the tax goes, People make Waaaay to big of a deal over 1%.

[stlcitygirl]

I don't mind the 1% and we are definitely not the only city that has the tax.

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by moorlander

No one thing would be more important to both the city and the county than a Merger. Economies of scale would reduce taxes, redundancies etc etc and we would finally put an end to all of the local muni's competing against themselves for retail and business relocations.

As far as the tax goes, People make Waaaay to big of a deal over 1%.

It's not so much the quantitative aspect of it as the qualitative element. When my wife and I both worked downtown (her AB, me Ralcorp), we could never justify getting robbed for roughly $1,200/year when, other than Blues Games/Concerts, and occasional training runs in Forest Park or Tower Grove, we seldom went into the city. It was a sprint for both of us from Maryland Heights to DT and back, M-F. And the net Schedule A deduction for local income taxes does not recapture the full outlay and thus results in a "forced" benefit of minimal usage.

If you lived in the City, and worked in Chesterfield (but didn't necessarily hang out there), and had to pay a 1 percent Chesterfield earnings tax, wouldn't you have some consternation with such?

We are both extremely anti-tax; given that, if we lived in the City, I suppose we could see certain validation of an earnings tax.

[arch_genesis]

Originally Posted by moorlander

No one thing would be more important to both the city and the county than a Merger. Economies of scale would reduce taxes, redundancies etc etc and we would finally put an end to all of the local muni's competing against themselves for retail and business relocations.

As far as the tax goes, People make Waaaay to big of a deal over 1%.

Merger for the win. It needs to happen, it was mentioned in Mayor Slay's acceptance speech but I haven't heard anything from him about it since.

[ktCakes]

We have never found the city tax be a big deal at all, but we have never made enough to be taxed $1200 a year! I am very worried about how the city will be able to raise revenue. I will never understand why the county doesn't understand the importance of a thriving city and its dependence on their own success.

I admit that I am not for a city-county merger, only because the county is too full of haters.

[arch_genesis]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

Overcoming the feudal mayoral system in the hundreds of municipalities would probably be the biggest hurdle to overcome.

I'd love to see a compiled list of the salaries for some of these mayors and city councils in all 90+ municipalities. This region cries against taxes and overspending every chance it gets, call me crazy but I think a merger is an easy sell so long as the message isn't muddled by dirty politicians. This region is so fragmented zoning laws have been rendered practically useless.

[flynavyj]

I'd think the argument you'll hear most against the "merger" would be: "Who knows you better, some big wig downtown who'll steal YOUR hard earned tax dollars to improve xxxxxxx and leave you suffering here without anything to show for it. Vote no on Proposition X, keep xxxxxxxx city, yours."

[OA 5599]

With the current city-county split, the earnings tax makes sense for the city. The city provides infrastructure and services to accommodate the thousands of people who work within its limits, but who also may spend little to no money in the city. I pay the tax myself and don't find it to be a very big deal, but I also live within the city limits.

A consolidated city-county or at least the rejoining of St. Louis city with the county could alleviate the city earnings tax and many of the other taxes needed to fund dozens and dozens of small municipalities. Other regional cities like Louisville, Kentucky, Indianapolis, and Nashville have had merged city-county governments for quite some time...why can't we? (Louisville...in the great tobacco producing state of Kentucky...also had a smoking ban before we did). This region will never progress unless everyone learns to work together.

In short...merge the city/county, ditch the earnings tax. If the city and county remain split, keep the tax.