DC privates educating suburban kids

[Anonymous]

The part that confuses me about this thread is this: (this is not an attack...just some things that came across my mind as I thought about these arguements)

1) Don't schools, churches get this tax free benefit nationwide? I am sure there are plenty of other multistate metro areas where kids from one taxed area go to schools in another. Or where people live in one state and work in another. What's so special about us in DC? (other than the notorious high tax rate for not much payback)

2) DC folks - what about the fact that the Federal Govt, IMF and World Bank (and similar institutions who don't pay taxes) are located in the city. Do we really prefer that they relocate more of their offices outside of town...I'd bet not.

Combining the two - I would bet that many of the suburban kids coming into town for school also have a parent working in town. The ones that don't work for a tax free entitity drum up pofits that get taxed by the city. And all of them (even govt!) are creating a demand for businesses by eating out, paying for parking, staying downtown for entertainment etc. If they all worked in the burbs and kept their kids there too, even more of our city would become a wasteland.

And don't forget that DC folks use MD and VA services too...unless you do all your shopping in the city?

Just some thoughts...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2) DC folks - what about the fact that the Federal Govt, IMF and World Bank (and similar institutions who don't pay taxes) are located in the city. Do we really prefer that they relocate more of their offices outside of town...I'd bet not.

I agree with all your thoughts. Those points strike home with me. I just want to expand on the one above. It includes not only governmental entities like IMF and World Bank, but also public interest entities with no connection to DC other than geography, like NAACP, ARP, NARAL, National Geographic, etc.

[Anonymous]

I wish organizations and folks who would pay taxes in any other area would pay their fair share in DC. That's all I'm asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2) DC folks - what about the fact that the Federal Govt, IMF and World Bank (and similar institutions who don't pay taxes) are located in the city. Do we really prefer that they relocate more of their offices outside of town...I'd bet not.

I agree with all your thoughts. Those points strike home with me. I just want to expand on the one above. It includes not only governmental entities like IMF and World Bank, but also public interest entities with no connection to DC other than geography, like NAACP, ARP, NARAL, National Geographic, etc.

Two VERY different types of entities. Large national organizations like AARP are here to serve the nation, local schools are there to serve the people in the jurisdiction. Also DC is not the same city as it was 15-20yrs ago. Back then a lot of people moved out of the city and lived in the 'burbs due to crime, etc, now a lot more of us actually are going to live most if not all our lives in DC and these people are trying to assert some sort of dominance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish organizations and folks who would pay taxes in any other area would pay their fair share in DC. That's all I'm asking.

I understand, but I think the issue is more complex than that. DC certainly is able to impose a commuter tax or something similar that would hit schools and other businesses; plenty of other cities do that, and I recall reading it has been proposed in DC many times. But while a commuter tax may bring in immediate revenue, it also often drives people and businesses out of the city, which results in much great losses of jobs and revenue for the city. Given the significant infrastructure and business-friendly climates of Bethesda and NoVA, I suspect a new local tax like that would have similar negative results here.

No one can argue with you wanting MD & VA people to "pay their fair share" to DC, but you should consider that maybe they're already paying a share in other ways by patronizing DC businesses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2) DC folks - what about the fact that the Federal Govt, IMF and World Bank (and similar institutions who don't pay taxes) are located in the city. Do we really prefer that they relocate more of their offices outside of town...I'd bet not.

I agree with all your thoughts. Those points strike home with me. I just want to expand on the one above. It includes not only governmental entities like IMF and World Bank, but also public interest entities with no connection to DC other than geography, like NAACP, ARP, NARAL, National Geographic, etc.

Two VERY different types of entities. Large national organizations like AARP are here to serve the nation, local schools are there to serve the people in the jurisdiction. Also DC is not the same city as it was 15-20yrs ago. Back then a lot of people moved out of the city and lived in the 'burbs due to crime, etc, now a lot more of us actually are going to live most if not all our lives in DC and these people are trying to assert some sort of dominance.

But the point is that there are plenty of nonprofit organizations located in DC that get tax benefits, even though they don't serve everyone equally and not everyone might support their mission. The nonprofit tax break is mission-neutral, and probably should be.

If you really want to draw some geographic lines, there certainly are plenty of "local" nonprofits like animal shelters, charity organizations, regional environmental advocacy groups, and regional transit advocacy groups. They all could easily relocate two miles to VA or MD if their nonprofit status is revoked.

[Anonymous]

Not only patronizing local businesses but also being a large part of the reason that those businesses can exist in the first place. There are plenty of other "old" cities in this country that are a mess downtown - they cannot support themselves because all the businesses have fled to the burbs - or to other cities. If the large organizations did not exist downtown - and draw from the broader suburban population for their workers - DC would not be a place where people wanted to "move back to".

I think a better argument for those of us living in DC is to get independence and voting rights so the city's residents can have control over their own policies - rather than Congress having the right to overturn choices made by the local tax paying (both Federal and DC) population.

We choose where we live - and we have made a choice to live somewhere with fewer good options for public schools. If that is a priority - then we need to move - or help fix the schools. Expecting private schools to give a preference to anyone based on where they live does not seem like a good option. What would people say about a school in Potomac that gave preference to people in Potomac. I suspect they would be called discriminatory.

[Anonymous]

DC has great private schools, but so do VA and MD. Should Sidwell lower school give preference to MD residents, for example?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC certainly is able to impose a commuter tax or something similar that would hit schools and other businesses; plenty of other cities do that, and I recall reading it has been proposed in DC many times.

Why, no, we can't. Our Congressional masters have explicitly forbidden it. Because, see, unlike other cities, we aren't autonomous and we're excluded from representation in the body that ultimately decides what can and cannot be law in the District of Columbia. Of course MD and VA commuters are represented in that body and their reps typically end up on the oversight committee for the District. Which, on one level, make sense (they have a greater stake in what happens in DC than people from more distant states), but it also means that whenever the District's own interests conflict with those of the suburbs, the District loses.

I agree with much of the rest of your post, but think it's important for people to realize that DC lacks powers/alternatives other cities have in dealing with similar problems.

[Anonymous]

We can't get anyone to pay what they should because we are a jurisdiction that is a specific creation by the U.S. Constitution without much, if any political power. I don't want to soak commuters with a tax, but I wish there was some just way of compensating DC for hosting millions of people who spend half their waking hours here before going back to their homes.

At least say thanks for all the free shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC certainly is able to impose a commuter tax or something similar that would hit schools and other businesses; plenty of other cities do that, and I recall reading it has been proposed in DC many times.

Why, no, we can't. Our Congressional masters have explicitly forbidden it ....

Do you know that for fact -- i.e., that the Congressional Oversight committees explicitly forbid a commuter tax or anything similar? Or are you just saying we in DC would have to make sure it is not blocked by Congress? I don't know whether it's ever been proposed before, or what the outcome was. Can you educate me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a born and bread DCer, product and parent of local privates, I say its idiotic for people to complain about MD and VA students coming in to dc for private school. Anybody who says otherwise is a pathetic whiner.

On the other hand, I do so see some merit to the argument about people from Md and Va coming for employment and failing to support our government with a commuter tax. You do use up huge resources and don't contribute any thing.

This doesn't make any sense to me. Are you really saying that, whether or not there is a commuter tax, suburban employees don't benefit the district? I pay a fair amount of money in sales taxes here, and, I can assure you, have a very light footprint in terms of consuming district resources. My guess is that I pay more in taxes than I consume in resources -- do you have any data to the contrary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can't get anyone to pay what they should because we are a jurisdiction that is a specific creation by the U.S. Constitution without much, if any political power. I don't want to soak commuters with a tax, but I wish there was some just way of compensating DC for hosting millions of people who spend half their waking hours here before going back to their homes.

At least say thanks for all the free shit.

I don't think the presence of those people in offices in DC is doing a lot in terms of using "free shit" as you put it. You might have a legitimate grievance as to the high costs the district suffers as a result of federal government operations, but your average office-dweller doesn't use much in the way of free stuff at all. Perhaps some minor additional police and fire staffing -- although I don't think K Street is heavily policed to address the crime risks posed by office workers -- and some minor wear and tear on the roads. We also pay sales taxes. I just don't see how this is a major drag on D.C.

[Anonymous]

If you lived in the District or in some associated jurisdicition, those of us in the District would benefit from your tax payments. But you don't, do you? You live in cardboard condos, tacky townhouses and sprawling subdivisions. Be real, move to the District.

[Anonymous]

Unlike other multi-jurisdictional locations (such as NY City/NJ/NY/CT) DC cannot levy a commuter tax. As a result, the city has hundreds of thousands of commuters who use the roads, policy/fire/ambulance and other city services which they do not pay for.

I would also submit that the presence of the Federal Government is the reason most of the city and suburbs exist. Think: NIH, EPA and NIST in Montgmery County, CIA, Pentagon and all of the "black" agencies in the Dulles corridor. None of these areas would be anything more than farmland if DC wasn't located where it is and agencies didn't locate to campus settings over the past 60 years.

And, FWIW, there are plenty of suburban families who use DC addresses and family members to send their kids to certain DCPS schools, given the PK and child care opportunities as well as select schools that people want to attend. We are also the dumping ground for a lot of the region's homeless, who are routinely dropped off, bussed in or otherwise left to the city because of the generous but over taxed social service programs.