The Kansas City Tea Party?
 So the land tax idea met with mixed opinions. That's good. It actually inspired some people to comment (I'm looking at you Sader) who don't often do so. I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said a little revolution now and then is a good thing. Anything that inspires people's civic passion is a good topic to discuss.So we all agree that we don't like the Earnings Tax, and I've discovered some people get fired up when you start talking about a land tax, and I'm sure people would really get fired up if we eliminated the Earnings Tax and didn't replace that revenue stream. What's an aspiring elected official to do? Well nobody ever said this was going to be an easy gig. I like the challenge. What do other cities do? I'm told the Lincoln Policy Institute has written and researched a great deal on the subject. Sounds like I have some more light bedtime reading to do! |
posted by Mark at 9:36 AM
Comments on "The Kansas City Tea Party?"
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the wife said ... (10:37 AM) :
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Keith Sader said ... (12:30 PM) :
post a commentYou can read this Lincoln Policy stuff in bed, but you have to watch Part II of the PBS "Supreme Court" with me next Wed at 9.
Hi Mark, just an FYI: I wish I was in your district so that I could vote for you. I think the public face of an elected official who's willing to deal with actual people is an awesome idea.
Anyway, I'm not opposed to the land tax in a general sense, what I am opposed to accounting tricks to fund the government which is what the tax & refund half system seems like at this point. Maybe it can be made to work as a policy with a little more tweaking.
I think my, and most people's objection to the income tax, is that they don't know where it goes to or what it funds. There's a great deal of ignorance on this subject that isn't helped by the city itself. Maybe a link to a pie chart of how the tax is use on the city homepage would be helpful?
If we're trying to increase city that's one thing. If we're trying to come up with a more neutral and fair revenue scheme that's another.
Right now, it seems like the idea is to stabilize the revenue stream for KC, but I'm not sure the collection effort/costs of a land tax would be any better than for the income tax. There's also the question of the assessment rate. Do you have a quick econ 101 projection for this? Maybe you could base it off the county property tax figures.
Thanks for your time in responding to these questions and running this blog.