Vincent Gray wants to raise your taxes

[jsteele]

Mayor Vincent C. Gray has just released his proposed budget. He proposes a new 8.9% tax bracket on income above $200,000. Currently, the highest bracket starts at $40,000 and is 8.5%. So, he is asking people who make more than $200,000 to pay .4% more on that income. To illustrate, if you make $250,000 per year -- which is what I believe we have established is "middle class" in DCUM-land -- your taxes will go up $200.

[Anonymous]

But Jeff. That's not the point. The point is that DC doesn't want to deal with its bloated budget. They just want to raise taxes. It's easy to go after the middle class in this city because theyre mostly white and guilty.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:But Jeff. That's not the point. The point is that DC doesn't want to deal with its bloated budget. They just want to raise taxes. It's easy to go after the middle class in this city because theyre mostly white and guilty.

You should probably look at the budget before you make that kind of determination. The proposed budget has significant cuts.

Edit: just to support my point. Here are the numbers thanks to Mike Debonis:

Gray cuts by cluster:

Gov Direct/Supp $14.6M;
Econ Dev $22M;
Pub Safety $18M;
Edu $18.2M;
Human Svcs $113.4;
Public Wks $9.2M

Look at the cuts to Human Services which affect the most vulnerable in our society. I think some of the guilt you mention is probably justified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But Jeff. That's not the point. The point is that DC doesn't want to deal with its bloated budget. They just want to raise taxes. It's easy to go after the middle class in this city because theyre mostly white and guilty.

Didja ever notice that when people say "The point is ...", they usually mean "Never mind all that other information, the thing I want to talk about is ..."

[Anonymous]

So you agree that people in this jurisdiction should now pay over 40% of their taxes to Fed and local? And they can't even send their kids to public school. How does the District intend to attract middle class families? The way to alleviate poverty is to have good enough schools and low enough taxes so a solid middle class base will live here and pay taxes, by taxing these people out of town you just continue to create more income inequality within the city. DC's tax rate is already extremely high as it is when compared to it's neighbors (a very defensive subject) so take away $17.8k from your 200k salary and then factor in private school (not even adding Federal taxes) and think about how inhospitable this city is to the people who pay for the city to function.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:So you agree that people in this jurisdiction should now pay over 40% of their taxes to Fed and local? And they can't even send their kids to public school. How does the District intend to attract middle class families? The way to alleviate poverty is to have good enough schools and low enough taxes so a solid middle class base will live here and pay taxes, by taxing these people out of town you just continue to create more income inequality within the city. DC's tax rate is already extremely high as it is when compared to it's neighbors (a very defensive subject) so take away $17.8k from your 200k salary and then factor in private school (not even adding Federal taxes) and think about how inhospitable this city is to the people who pay for the city to function.

I don't think $200 a year changes this calculus one bit. If people want to move out of the District because of $200 a year, I would question their sanity. You can debate the same issues you list whether Gray proposed a tax increase or not.

[Anonymous]

That may be, but the city seems to have no problem attracting people. Look at the last census. While the conditions may not seem appealing to you, there are people every day choosing to move to dc.

As for the budget bloat, I was surprised to fond that dc's percentage shortfall is one of the lowest in the country.

[Anonymous]

But it is the issue Jeff. That;s how pols sell taxes to people. Your taxes are only going up by $200, neglecting to let you know they're already taking $17k plus from you already and not able to make ends meet with that. That's the main problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That may be, but the city seems to have no problem attracting people. Look at the last census. While the conditions may not seem appealing to you, there are people every day choosing to move to dc.

As for the budget bloat, I was surprised to fond that dc's percentage shortfall is one of the lowest in the country.

Including births and people moving in DC's population only grew by 20,000 in 10 years. Contrast that with the whole region and DC still lags the suburbs in attractiveness.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:But it is the issue Jeff. That;s how pols sell taxes to people. Your taxes are only going up by $200, neglecting to let you know they're already taking $17k plus from you already and not able to make ends meet with that. That's the main problem.

I think people are pretty well aware what they are paying in taxes. If not, they certainly aren't going to notice an increase. The reason the city is not able to make ends meet is not because of rampant waste, it's because of the recession. Before the recession, the City was able to balance its budget, create a surplus, and maintain high bond ratings -- and spend even more.

Since you seem to have this all figured out, why don't you explain what changes you would make to the budget.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But Jeff. That's not the point. The point is that DC doesn't want to deal with its bloated budget. They just want to raise taxes. It's easy to go after the middle class in this city because theyre mostly white and guilty.

You should probably look at the budget before you make that kind of determination. The proposed budget has significant cuts.

Edit: just to support my point. Here are the numbers thanks to Mike Debonis:

Gray cuts by cluster:

Gov Direct/Supp $14.6M;
Econ Dev $22M;
Pub Safety $18M;
Edu $18.2M;
Human Svcs $113.4;
Public Wks $9.2M

Look at the cuts to Human Services which affect the most vulnerable in our society. I think some of the guilt you mention is probably justified.

DC already spends by far the greatest share of area municipalities in the region on social services. We might actually be able to serve folks more effectively if we weren't desperately trying to corner the market on poverty. It's time MD and VA stepped up and paid their share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That may be, but the city seems to have no problem attracting people. Look at the last census. While the conditions may not seem appealing to you, there are people every day choosing to move to dc.

As for the budget bloat, I was surprised to fond that dc's percentage shortfall is one of the lowest in the country.

Including births and people moving in DC's population only grew by 20,000 in 10 years. Contrast that with the whole region and DC still lags the suburbs in attractiveness.

Pretty funny how much is contained in that single word "attractiveness". The largest growth in poverty has been in the suburbs. The burbs are extremely attractive to folks who have been priced out of the city.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I'd prefer to see a larger tax increase, if that's what's necessary to ensure the long-term health of the city, but DC really does need to do whatever it takes to spread the regional poverty load around to MD and VA somewhat. Currently, we're looking at a legacy of Jim Crow; time for MD/VA to step up.

[Anonymous]

If you read other threads - every one wants universal PreS and PreK at highly desireable schools / charters.

ummmm- how are we going to pay of this?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
DC already spends by far the greatest share of area municipalities in the region on social services. We might actually be able to serve folks more effectively if we weren't desperately trying to corner the market on poverty. It's time MD and VA stepped up and paid their share.

Yes, DC has a lot of influence over the budgets of MD and VA. I'm sure Gray has calls into McDonnell and O'Malley as we speak.