Desperate for revenues, Detroit ponders fast-food tax

AP ^ | 5-8-05 | Sarah Karush

[Dan from Michigan]

Good one genius. This will drive the mom and pops out of business, and other businesses to the inner burbs. If the major coney islands like Layfayette closes, that will give another major black eye to the city.

And the fact is there aren't many other options.

Yeah there is. Stop running up your company credit card with drinks, lay off your bodyguards and turn in your Navigator....

[coloradan]

Who most often eats fast food, and therefore will be most impacted by this tax: Is it:

(1) Rich people?

or

(2) Poor people?

[Dutch Boy]

What about an elected official tax. Those that hold elected office must pay an additional 10% for the pain and suffering they cause to the residents.

[Bob Eimiller]

Yep... Democrat controlled Detroit! It appears desperation has set in... after all without money socialism is devoid of the avenues of power over the masses.

[New Orleans Slim]

Next they'll tax "thingy" ...

(At least it will make the CPA's job more interesting.)

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Whet benefit (if any at all) did the "empowerment zone Federal multiple-millions grant do for the citizens of Detroit?

Where is this "empowerment zone"?

What did the Archer adninistration do with the money? What did Kwame do with any residual?

Looking around Detroit, there is no "empowerment zone", as advertised.......so WHO siphoned THAT money off?

[MikefromOhio]

This would explain the desperate "Discover Detroit" ads we are seeing on TV down here in Ohio right now....

somehow I am not surprised....

[Publius6961]

Ninety-eight percent of all of our country's financial ill would be cured if elected officials and bureaucrats were paid no more than twice the poverty level income of a family of four.

And NO perks; No expense account.

[lowbridge]

. In New York, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has proposed a 1 percent tax on junk food,

Its government that needs to go on a diet more than the taxpayers.

video games and TV commercials to fund anti-obesity programs.

In reality those funds will be diverted to pay for the local pols favorite projects and supporters, like raises for union employees.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Read all about it....5 years after they got the money....the article in #1 reflects the NEXT 5 years

http://www.freep.com/news/locway/dzone17_20000117.htm

Residents see no progress in 5 years

'They're not putting it in the neighborhood'
January 17, 2000

snips:
BY JENNIFER DIXON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Broken glass crunches beneath her feet as Leontine Person takes stock of the east-side working-class Detroit neighborhood where she has lived for 51 years.

Abandoned homes, doors and windows gaping open, sit side by side with tidy bungalows. Household rubbish is heaped at the curb. Alleys are a tangle of weeds that shroud discarded appliances. Even Mrs. Person, as she is known in the neighborhood, doesn't want to venture too far down the alley that runs behind her block on Bewick Street.

"I know for a fact that President Clinton and Vice President Gore gave the money. Somebody's got to be putting it in their pocket because they're not putting it in the neighborhood," she says.

President Bill Clinton designated Detroit and five other urban areas as empowerment zones in December 1994 as part of a 10-year plan to rebuild inner cities by roping off their most distressed areas.

Each zone received federal tax credits to keep and attract business, and $100-million block grants to design and fund economic development, housing, job training and social programs. Three rural empowerment zones and 95 enterprise communities got lesser benefits

Five years later, $84 million in taxpayer money that should be making a difference in lives of the zone's 101,279 people is untapped.

A 6-month analysis by the Free Press found that many of the zone's 80 programs are making slow progress in living up to goals that are supposed to be reached by 2004

[Dan from Michigan]

It all goes downtown(most of which which isn't bad) or maybe Southwest, which has been improving.

On the other hand, there's Brightmoor, Gratiot, and the area by the old City Airport.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

In mid-2000, Mayor Dennis Archer reported that Detroit's Empowerment Zone had
enjoyed over $6 billion in new investment or commitments since its

http://www.crcmich.org/EDSurvey/fedzones/ez.html

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. SHEESH.

[winodog]

Theres some good news to this story. Things will get much worse before they get better if ever. Although I feel for the people left behind after all the producers have vacated, maybe someone will learn a lesson.

[Dan from Michigan]

What's that song go - "You gotta lose your mind in Detroit, Rock City".

[Enterprise]

Sounds like Detroit is being ruled by third world leaders.

[whereasandsoforth]

Why don't the fast food sources get together and send a notice to the city that they will not be collecting the tax regardless of the vote. I don't know why businesses cooperate and act as tax collectors anyway. If the city wants to collect the tax, they can hire some people to sit at every restaurant and try to collect the tax individually from the customers already served. The city would probably have to pay hazard pay for those tax collectors working the drive-thru.

[Brilliant]

I they want more tax revenues, the smart thing would be to cut tax rates.

[Hot Tabasco]

And the fact is there aren't many other options.

I'm thinking of "Felony Firearm Fines" and "Driveby Shooting Surtaxes". Instead of overburdening our prison system her in Michigan, slap'm with the hefty abuser tax and let them go. Should bring in some sizable revenue in no time at all.....

[CurlyDave]

Who most often eats fast food, and therefore will be most impacted by this tax: Is it:

(1) Rich people?

Are there any rich people left in Detroit?