Happy Taxiversary
With June 1 rolling around, we all need to be reminded about the Hamilton County stadium tax. On June 1, 1996, a "temporary sales tax increase" was enacted to fund the construction of the stadiums for the Reds and Bengals. As most promises and tax ans spend programs go, this one under delivered. And as most taxes and programs go, they never seem to go away (regardless of how poorly conceived and/or out of date the programs are). In stead of writing something new on the 11th anniversary of the stadium taxes, last years blog entry will be re-posted. After an entire year, almost everything is still relevant.
Happy Taxiversary!
June 1, is a very significant day in the Tri-State, yet, nobody will notice (unless they read this). This Thursday is the 10th anniversary of the ½% countywide stadium sales tax. On June 1, 1996, the county enacted a sales tax of ½% to build a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium for the Reds and Bengals. I remember hearing then Governor Voinovich talk about how important this would be for our economy. I remember hearing then Mayor Qualls talk about how, even though she was not a sports fan, this was necessary to revitalize the riverfront. I remember hearing promises about a lot of out of county tax dollars that would pour in. So, here we are, 10 years later, what has happened? Let’s take a look.
The riverfront (now we are calling it The Banks) is hardly revitalized. 10 years later, our politicians are still grandstanding that they will be the one to revitalize it. New politicians, same old promises, same old problems.
Despite the higher sales tax, the stadiums will be running a deficit. In 1997, the sales tax brought in an additional $52.8 million. With a 3% annual increase (as what was projected), that number should have grown to $66.85 million for 2005. Instead, sales receipts in the county have grown by 2.41% per year. That means that $64.06 million was raised in 2005 ($2.79 million short of where we should be!). In fact, if the sales receipts starts growing by 3% per year, by 2032 (when the sales tax is supposed to be retired), we will have a deficit of $80.6 million! If it grows by 2% per year, then we are looking at a deficit of $191.5 million![1]
Can you see another tax hike around the corner just to pay for the first tax?
The economy is struggling. If overall sales for Hamilton County have not increased, it shows that people do not have more money to spend. This shows that the stadiums nor the sales tax did not help jump start our economy. With Hamilton County’s population loss (since 2000, Hamilton County has lost 38,651 people, about 21 people per day are leaving)[2], the stadiums, or the stadium tax, certainly has not made this an area people want to live in.
Let’s remember what we were promised 10 years ago. “For a Major League Future”, we were going to have a vibrant Downtown. We were going to have a vibrant Riverfront. We were going to have a booming economy. We were told that we need this tax. Unfortunately, our politicians were wrong.
[1] Source, Hamilton County Commissioner’s Office
[2] Source, US Census
Happy Taxiversary!
June 1, is a very significant day in the Tri-State, yet, nobody will notice (unless they read this). This Thursday is the 10th anniversary of the ½% countywide stadium sales tax. On June 1, 1996, the county enacted a sales tax of ½% to build a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium for the Reds and Bengals. I remember hearing then Governor Voinovich talk about how important this would be for our economy. I remember hearing then Mayor Qualls talk about how, even though she was not a sports fan, this was necessary to revitalize the riverfront. I remember hearing promises about a lot of out of county tax dollars that would pour in. So, here we are, 10 years later, what has happened? Let’s take a look.
The riverfront (now we are calling it The Banks) is hardly revitalized. 10 years later, our politicians are still grandstanding that they will be the one to revitalize it. New politicians, same old promises, same old problems.
Despite the higher sales tax, the stadiums will be running a deficit. In 1997, the sales tax brought in an additional $52.8 million. With a 3% annual increase (as what was projected), that number should have grown to $66.85 million for 2005. Instead, sales receipts in the county have grown by 2.41% per year. That means that $64.06 million was raised in 2005 ($2.79 million short of where we should be!). In fact, if the sales receipts starts growing by 3% per year, by 2032 (when the sales tax is supposed to be retired), we will have a deficit of $80.6 million! If it grows by 2% per year, then we are looking at a deficit of $191.5 million![1]
Can you see another tax hike around the corner just to pay for the first tax?
The economy is struggling. If overall sales for Hamilton County have not increased, it shows that people do not have more money to spend. This shows that the stadiums nor the sales tax did not help jump start our economy. With Hamilton County’s population loss (since 2000, Hamilton County has lost 38,651 people, about 21 people per day are leaving)[2], the stadiums, or the stadium tax, certainly has not made this an area people want to live in.
Let’s remember what we were promised 10 years ago. “For a Major League Future”, we were going to have a vibrant Downtown. We were going to have a vibrant Riverfront. We were going to have a booming economy. We were told that we need this tax. Unfortunately, our politicians were wrong.
[1] Source, Hamilton County Commissioner’s Office
[2] Source, US Census
posted by CincinnatiLibertarian at 2:02 PM
1 Comments:
Amen
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