$1 weekly fee for working inside city begins

Charleston Gazette ^ | 01/01/04 | Mandy Rorrer

[A2J]

This is a joke, right?

[CounterCounterCulture]

$1 fee TAX

[Rebelbase]

No joke at all. Municipalities have been trying for years to find a way to tax people who use city services but live outside the city or live in the city and rent instead of own.

In this case it looks like the ones getting the double whammy will be Charleston homeowners.

[gitmo]

How do you determine who works in the city? Does a trucker driving through work there? Does a plumber whose office is outside the city limits work there if he repairs pipes inside the city? What about someone whose office is in Charleston, but spends his time on the road outside Charleston?

Of course, the answer is "We want everyone's money."

[Ethyl]

Charleston where? South Carolina? West Virginia? etc.

[Holly_P]

West Virginia - but it's coming to a city near you soon.

[pittsburgh gop guy]

coming to Pittsburgh, PA REAL SOON!

[LibKill]

Erm, how to say this?

THIS STINKS!

Yep, that's it.

[JRios1968]

As usual, an "enlightened" liberal mayor, decides that the best way to bring more people to his/her fair town is to make it MORE expensive to live there.

Makes you wonder who is dumber, the "enlightened" mayor, or the residents who continue allowing this to happen.

[NYFriend]

An excise tax on employment? A toll would make more sense, but this is actually stupid because the taxes on businesses, (ie property tax) pay for the services the employees use. In NYC, they had been justifying the so-called commuter tax (a city income tax) as fair to compensate the city for services it provides to workers while in the city. It's disingenuous.

[Az Joe]

Tax 'em all! Let Big Brother sort 'em out!

[Vesuvian]

I hate the smell of incrementalism in the morning...it smells like defeat.

As someone who works in NYC but lives on LI I'm waiting for this shoe to drop on me.

[CaptRon]

No joke at all. Municipalities have been trying for years to find a way to tax people who use city services but live outside the city

For a brief period I commuted into Manhattan. I paid for the bus, the subway and the train. I cannot think of one service that I used that I didn't subsidize myself.

[Rebelbase]

"I cannot think of one service that I used that I didn't subsidize myself."

Water, sewer, refuse, police, fire, EMT, etc.....not that I'm defending it, but that is their justification.

[Smocker]

Just another example of the socialist state of West Virginia clamping down on anything that might look like free enterprise.

[justrepublican]

Congratulations West Virgina, you have just figured out how to tax AIR.

[George from New England]

This is like a crooked charity. Or like toll booth on highways.

The amount of overhead required in city staff, employees and benefits to collect the tax will take the bulk of what is collected.

Nothing more than another government work program for those involved in collecting.

[Jack Black]

Portland, OR has a payroll tax. It's a lot higher that this too. I think it is 1.5% of payroll or something. And of course for people who live in Vancouver, WA and work in Portland they are forced to pay Oregon state income tax which is at about 10% now.

A lot of offices are closing down town, that's a no brainer. A lot of Oregon business is moving, as are rich people. These schemes eventually backfire, you can't force people to live and pay taxes somewhere (at least not yet) so when a city goes nutty on it people just up and leave.

[George from New England]

Not to different than our utility bills here in CT.

There must be EIGHT or more lines of fees and taxes each month. No bill payer can keep track of who gets what and no utility can explain them all. Just pay the bill and don't question it.

In Charleston the government revenue comes from multiple sources, make it so complicated that no worker can keep track of the deductions on his/her paycheck. Just say "Yes big brother" and accept your 20% to take home.