Desperate for revenues, Detroit ponders fast-food tax

AP ^ | 5-8-05 | Sarah Karush

[Eric in the Ozarks]

How about a tax on sneakers costing over $100 ?

[Flyer]

a 2 percent fast-food tax . . . The mayor says consumers will barely notice the slight increase at the cash register

How about a 2% reduction in spending. I bet even fewer folks would notice that.

[tflabo]

Or a 2% tax increase on politicians salaries. That will convert them to Reaganomics in a hurry.

[Alouette]

The high school classmates eat at McDonald's every day after school because their schedule doesn't leave them time for lunch.

When I went to high school in Detroit (back in the days when it was a French settlement), I got 20 whole minutes to eat my lunch.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

"Just tell him we're going to go to Bloomfield Hills to McDonald's if he puts a tax on it," said Ebony Ellis, 18, referring to the affluent Detroit suburb, as she and four friends ate at a Golden Arches in Detroit. The high school classmates eat at McDonald's every day after school because their schedule doesn't leave them time for lunch.

Bloomfield Hills is 20 miles away, no way they will be scooting up to Bloomfield to save a nickle or two.

[tflabo]

""We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Rodham Clinton June 2004"

Better think twice about super-sizing them fries.

"and you're working for no one but me" TAXMAN, the Beatles

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

WIll it get so bad that Michigan unicorporates the city?

The state is currently looking to put Detroit into receivership. There is a numbnut running for mayor who wants a law passed that would exempt Detroit from any takeovers.

Plow the whole town under ( except for the Institute of arts and stadium) and start over.

[goldstategop]

If you hate the "fast food tax" in Detroit, cross the border to Windsor. There you'll face a GST tax and God knows what else in Canada. We Americans are only beginning to catch up with our northern liberal mecca.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[saleman]

"High taxes are frequently cited as a major reason residents and businesses have fled the city, further depleting the tax base."

From their own mouths and they still want more taxes.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

What a joke!

[cajun-jack]

I used to work for a company that moved inmates from state to state. Michigan has a lot of inmates doing time in Virginia. We would move 4 or 5 busloads at a time from "the wall" in Jackson, MI to Reston, VA.

Michigan was short on prison bed space and the same with Wisconsin. Most folks of each state probally don't even know that their inmates are being shippied out of state.

[judgeandjury]

Faced with a $300 million budget hole, and with traditional revenue-raising options largely exhausted, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is hoping people won't mind forking over a few extra cents for their Big Macs and Whoppers.

Hmm, I wonder if Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has considered cutting spending in order to deal with Detroit's budget problem? Oh wait, he's a Democrat, so of course he hasn't!

[Enterprise]

" a hip-hop mayor who drives around in a tricked out SUV."

LOL! (That image is too funny)

[Cboldt]

In a study by the District of Columbia comparing Washington and the biggest cities in each state, Detroit in 2003 had the 10th-highest tax burden ...

10th place. Pikers. I'm sure the city government can be in 1st place without much effort.

Instead of 2%, make it 20%. That would raise ten times as much revenue. Could do as Boston is planning too, have a toll for driving into the city.

[MadIvan]

I find it amazing that most government officials have not heard of the economic term "Crowding out" - when government taxes and spends, it crowds out more efficient private economic activities, thus hindering wealth creation.

It's a simple concept. It's been proven mathematically a number of times. It's Economics 101. But no left wing politician ever wants to recognise that it's real.

Regards, Ivan

[Verginius Rufus]

Clinton and Gore gave them the money? Out of their own pockets?

[Verginius Rufus]

The Brits captured Detroit during the War of 1812, and the Americans later recaptured it. By the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, everything went back to the status quo ante bellum. Maybe we could renegotiate the Treaty of Ghent and give Detroit back to Canada.

[FormerACLUmember]

The democrat party ruling class can cut back on hookers, crack, and limousines.

[winner3000]

(It's not really prohibitive," he said. "It doesn't overburden the family."

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

Well at least we know what the AP thinks in this "news" story!

[winner3000]

(It's not really prohibitive," he said. "It doesn't overburden the family."

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

Well at least we know what the AP thinks in this "news" story!