Karen, Thanks yet again. However, you made one comment I want to discuss a bit. You said, "If Erie lowers its tax rate below 3% the revenue sharing will reflect that. (Never heard of this happening. Who would reduce the amount of taxes collected?)". Actually, the correlation between tax rate and tax revenue is not as strong as you imply.
The classic examples are:
- Years ago, Philadelphia wanted to address childhood obesity so they imposed a tax rate on sugary drinks (they just by happenstance included diet drinks to make tax calculation more simple -- yeah, right). Unsurprisingly, the sales of those drinks in Philadelphia dropped steeply (as did taxes associated with those, and other grocery, sales -- tax rate up, revenue down). The interesting thing is that the sales of those targeted, evil sugary drinks (and other groceries) jumped in adjacent municipalities that did not tax them. People are not (in the words of Dr. Thomas Sowell) inert chess pieces. They make decisions and take actions for themselves.
- The federal income tax rates have jumped all over the place from the 91% marginal tax rate that AOC likes to banter about in the 1950's to the much lower tax rates of the Reagan years. Strangely, the federal-income-tax-generated revenue has remained stable at around 17% of GDP independent of the tax rates. Again, people are not inert chess pieces. If Louisville were to lower it's sales tax rate to 2%, how many people would make the slightly longer trip to the Louisville KS to save on their weekly grocery shopping -- particularly now when a weeks groceries can cost $200 or more. Heck Mary and I often spend almost that, and there's just the two of us.
Karen, you are remarkably generous to spend so much of your time helping us be the stewards of this community that these insane times require of us. What would we do without you?
Thank you for your kind words. I don't deny this takes a lot of time but I hope it helps regular readers to better understand what's going on in Lafayette and to maybe engage now and then. 😊
Karen, very complicated agreement and you tried your best to dumb it down for people like me but I'll have to read it again slowly to fully comprehend it 🤪 The bottom line is I guess that Lafayette isn't as bad off as it could have been without the agreement. It appears we are getting along with Erie better than before which is positive. Now, let's see what happens with the proposed Kensington Annexation🤔 Thanks for all your research on this!
I know what you mean about it being complicated. It's not just about understanding what the agreement says but also about understanding the impact of the King's move. Even if we get money from the new store, other funds take a hit, especially for open space.
I worked on this for days. I must have read it at least 20 times sending myself each new version (I always do this) to scan and then making tweaks. After I got the info from Kady I restructured the whole piece. As I said I realized I wasn't framing it quite right. Ya gotta think that if I don't have all the details it could be tough for others.
I always struggle with putting in too much or not enough info when I write about the city. That's why this turned into multiple parts. But I want people to have all the information I can offer as they navigate what's going on here.
Karen, Thanks yet again. However, you made one comment I want to discuss a bit. You said, "If Erie lowers its tax rate below 3% the revenue sharing will reflect that. (Never heard of this happening. Who would reduce the amount of taxes collected?)". Actually, the correlation between tax rate and tax revenue is not as strong as you imply.
The classic examples are:
- Years ago, Philadelphia wanted to address childhood obesity so they imposed a tax rate on sugary drinks (they just by happenstance included diet drinks to make tax calculation more simple -- yeah, right). Unsurprisingly, the sales of those drinks in Philadelphia dropped steeply (as did taxes associated with those, and other grocery, sales -- tax rate up, revenue down). The interesting thing is that the sales of those targeted, evil sugary drinks (and other groceries) jumped in adjacent municipalities that did not tax them. People are not (in the words of Dr. Thomas Sowell) inert chess pieces. They make decisions and take actions for themselves.
- The federal income tax rates have jumped all over the place from the 91% marginal tax rate that AOC likes to banter about in the 1950's to the much lower tax rates of the Reagan years. Strangely, the federal-income-tax-generated revenue has remained stable at around 17% of GDP independent of the tax rates. Again, people are not inert chess pieces. If Louisville were to lower it's sales tax rate to 2%, how many people would make the slightly longer trip to the Louisville KS to save on their weekly grocery shopping -- particularly now when a weeks groceries can cost $200 or more. Heck Mary and I often spend almost that, and there's just the two of us.
Did Philadelphia remove the tax on sugary drinks?
Not that I know of. Politicians are not famous for admitting mistakes.
Thanks Karen.
Hope it's helpful!
Karen, you are remarkably generous to spend so much of your time helping us be the stewards of this community that these insane times require of us. What would we do without you?
Thank you for your kind words. I don't deny this takes a lot of time but I hope it helps regular readers to better understand what's going on in Lafayette and to maybe engage now and then. 😊
Just wanted to throw my thanks out there too! Appreciate the effort.
Looks like a Jiffy Lube or similar is going in on the north side of Nine Mile Corner.
Thank you! A Jiffy Lube huh? Exciting. 😉
Thank you so much for all the work you do to keep us informed!
I hope it helps you gain an understanding of what's going on!
Karen, very complicated agreement and you tried your best to dumb it down for people like me but I'll have to read it again slowly to fully comprehend it 🤪 The bottom line is I guess that Lafayette isn't as bad off as it could have been without the agreement. It appears we are getting along with Erie better than before which is positive. Now, let's see what happens with the proposed Kensington Annexation🤔 Thanks for all your research on this!
I know what you mean about it being complicated. It's not just about understanding what the agreement says but also about understanding the impact of the King's move. Even if we get money from the new store, other funds take a hit, especially for open space.
I worked on this for days. I must have read it at least 20 times sending myself each new version (I always do this) to scan and then making tweaks. After I got the info from Kady I restructured the whole piece. As I said I realized I wasn't framing it quite right. Ya gotta think that if I don't have all the details it could be tough for others.
I always struggle with putting in too much or not enough info when I write about the city. That's why this turned into multiple parts. But I want people to have all the information I can offer as they navigate what's going on here.