When will DC get a wealth tax?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We won't, but people don't appreciate that DC is a city/state. We have to provide all functions of both a city and a state.

DC is like a country club compared to other cities. Our parking attendants have nicer cars than the chief of the Philadelphia police. How many Rivians does the city own? (Answer: 56). Why is the city buying cars that *start* at $73,000 a pop?

What? This cannot be real.

Of course it's real. They city owns a whole bunch of them, and wants to buy a whole bunch more. It's insane.

https://lims.dccouncil.gov/downloads/LIMS/57859/Memo/CA26-0217_Memorandum.pdf?Id=213497

The city also owns special street sweepers tailored for bike costs. They cost $250,000 each.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bikedc/comments/1juj9fl/new_bike_lane_sweepers/

DC taxpayers makin' it rain!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t there already one? It’s far cheaper to live in VA if you’re in the top tax bracket.

lol yes. DC income tax is double the VA income tax for the top bracket. which is why my husband and I moved from DC to Arlington and why it's idiotic for DC to consider raising income taxes even more. people aren't stupid and will just move. it's different in CA, where you can't maintain your social network, job, kids' (private) schools, etc if you move.

[Anonymous]

Define “wealth tax.” What do you think this should look like in DC?

Because I’m a tax policy professional, and this is a huge question. No such thing as a generic “wealth tax.” Are you talking about property tax? Raising the income tax? Luxury sales tax? Taxing businesses? What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

the DC government has a AAA+ bond rating, tops for any municipality in the country, with an over $6B rainy day fund that any governor envies. Please stop with the tripe about our city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

For sure. I'd target duplicative agency jobs. For example, DOB has an enforcement group that is tiny compared to DLCP's. DOB's enforcement overlaps with OAG and the native jurisdiction of landlord-tenant court. Get rid of the housing code enforcement at DOB that touches upon renters. MPD is overstaffed and underworked, and, further, they are structurally setup to juke their own stats. We don't need more municipal cops per capita than every city bigger than us, especially with the 15+ other law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in DC. I've only become "defund" due to their lazy incompetence. Case in point: they stupidly reduced crime stats before Pinto's law went into effect and claimed her law did the trick.

We also don't need 15 "Safe Passage" employees standing outside a high school to help 17 year olds cross the street.

So you are good with kids getting hit by cars? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We won't, but people don't appreciate that DC is a city/state. We have to provide all functions of both a city and a state.

DC is like a country club compared to other cities. Our parking attendants have nicer cars than the chief of the Philadelphia police. How many Rivians does the city own? (Answer: 56). Why is the city buying cars that *start* at $73,000 a pop?

you understand that fleet purchases are not what individual retail purchasers pay, right? And...Rivians are EV's. I doubt DC would want to buy them from Musk because those cybertrucks are simply awful from both a performance and aethetic standpoint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

They did cut spending when they decided they didnt want the DC Streetcar anymore, after spending more than $200 million on it. They got tired of it and moved on to new toys...

[Anonymous]

Any tax on money you've earned or invested is a Wealth Tax. There are makers and takers. The latter, together with elected officials will not be satisfied until until the former PAy tHEiR fAir ShARe. Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We won't, but people don't appreciate that DC is a city/state. We have to provide all functions of both a city and a state.

DC is like a country club compared to other cities. Our parking attendants have nicer cars than the chief of the Philadelphia police. How many Rivians does the city own? (Answer: 56). Why is the city buying cars that *start* at $73,000 a pop?

What? This cannot be real. [/quote



It’s true. DC has a fleet of Rivian trucks now. This is to meet their goal of sustainable fleet of cars and trucks. I have seen them parked in my neighborhood. Hard to believe they couldn’t find something cheaper

It's also probably just a matter of time before Rivian goes out of business. They lose a stupid amount of money on every truck they sell. Good luck servicing that fleet when the company goes under.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Define “wealth tax.” What do you think this should look like in DC?

Because I’m a tax policy professional, and this is a huge question. No such thing as a generic “wealth tax.” Are you talking about property tax? Raising the income tax? Luxury sales tax? Taxing businesses? What?

If your a tax professional, you should know a wealth tax is a tax on gross assets, including unrealized gains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

the DC government has a AAA+ bond rating, tops for any municipality in the country, with an over $6B rainy day fund that any governor envies. Please stop with the tripe about our city.

Your leaving out the fleet Rivians, I’m sure any governor would envy that also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We won't, but people don't appreciate that DC is a city/state. We have to provide all functions of both a city and a state.

DC is like a country club compared to other cities. Our parking attendants have nicer cars than the chief of the Philadelphia police. How many Rivians does the city own? (Answer: 56). Why is the city buying cars that *start* at $73,000 a pop?

What? This cannot be real.

Of course it's real. They city owns a whole bunch of them, and wants to buy a whole bunch more. It's insane.

https://lims.dccouncil.gov/downloads/LIMS/57859/Memo/CA26-0217_Memorandum.pdf?Id=213497

The city also owns special street sweepers tailored for bike costs. They cost $250,000 each.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bikedc/comments/1juj9fl/new_bike_lane_sweepers/

The amount of money the city spends on bike stuff is bananas. They will spend $80 million on a single bridge for bicyclists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

For sure. I'd target duplicative agency jobs. For example, DOB has an enforcement group that is tiny compared to DLCP's. DOB's enforcement overlaps with OAG and the native jurisdiction of landlord-tenant court. Get rid of the housing code enforcement at DOB that touches upon renters. MPD is overstaffed and underworked, and, further, they are structurally setup to juke their own stats. We don't need more municipal cops per capita than every city bigger than us, especially with the 15+ other law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in DC. I've only become "defund" due to their lazy incompetence. Case in point: they stupidly reduced crime stats before Pinto's law went into effect and claimed her law did the trick.

We also don't need 15 "Safe Passage" employees standing outside a high school to help 17 year olds cross the street.

So you are good with kids getting hit by cars? Thanks.

By your logic, we need to hire even more Safe Passage employees because we aren't good with kids getting hit by cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

For sure. I'd target duplicative agency jobs. For example, DOB has an enforcement group that is tiny compared to DLCP's. DOB's enforcement overlaps with OAG and the native jurisdiction of landlord-tenant court. Get rid of the housing code enforcement at DOB that touches upon renters. MPD is overstaffed and underworked, and, further, they are structurally setup to juke their own stats. We don't need more municipal cops per capita than every city bigger than us, especially with the 15+ other law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in DC. I've only become "defund" due to their lazy incompetence. Case in point: they stupidly reduced crime stats before Pinto's law went into effect and claimed her law did the trick.

We also don't need 15 "Safe Passage" employees standing outside a high school to help 17 year olds cross the street.

So you are good with kids getting hit by cars? Thanks.

By your logic, we need to hire even more Safe Passage employees because we aren't good with kids getting hit by cars.

The Safe Passage people around us just stand around staring at their phones. They don't do anything, and there's so many of them. Clearly, it's just a jobs program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington State has one, California may get one, seems like the progressive DC Council should not be far behind

The DC government has to be one of the most hilariously wasteful governments in the entire country. Maybe they could just cut spending? For probably the first time ever?

For sure. I'd target duplicative agency jobs. For example, DOB has an enforcement group that is tiny compared to DLCP's. DOB's enforcement overlaps with OAG and the native jurisdiction of landlord-tenant court. Get rid of the housing code enforcement at DOB that touches upon renters. MPD is overstaffed and underworked, and, further, they are structurally setup to juke their own stats. We don't need more municipal cops per capita than every city bigger than us, especially with the 15+ other law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in DC. I've only become "defund" due to their lazy incompetence. Case in point: they stupidly reduced crime stats before Pinto's law went into effect and claimed her law did the trick.

We also don't need 15 "Safe Passage" employees standing outside a high school to help 17 year olds cross the street.

So you are good with kids getting hit by cars? Thanks.

By your logic, we need to hire even more Safe Passage employees because we aren't good with kids getting hit by cars.

The Safe Passage people around us just stand around staring at their phones. They don't do anything, and there's so many of them. Clearly, it's just a jobs program.

It's totally a jobs program. So are many of the jobs at DPR, violence interrupters, everyone in the summer youth employment program and Project Empowerment, DDOT TCOs (who often make things more dangerous and have no enforcement powers), and many school crossing guards. But the alternative is that the unemployment rate in DC is even higher and there's a group of otherwise-unemployable people who just sit around all day and get into trouble. Better for them to have some income, pay some taxes, get off some benefits, and have a schedule. This concept dates back to the Barry Administration. The folks who are decent at their jobs and motivated often move out of DC to the suburbs.