“…There’s just winners and losers, and don’t you get caught on the wrong side of that line…”
Of course, Springsteen was singing about Atlantic City when he penned those words years ago, but he might well have been talking about present-day (or past) Detroit. Currently, a tax break is on the table for a portion of the wealthier neighborhoods in the city – and as expected, the rest of the citizens are crying “Foul!” As well they should be, government interference of this sort always chooses “winners and losers.”
The tax conundrum underscores the challenges facing Detroit as it tries to stabilize its population. The pressure increases on those neighborhoods that do not get the tax cut, while those that do have an opportunity to attract homeowners and stop the flow of residents to the suburbs.
I previously argued, “Rather than implement a targeted tax-cut to the wealthier, historic neighborhoods as is proposed, I would strive for an across the board property tax reduction.” At least someone on city council is not a complete idiot, and echoes my own sentiments:
“I think it is ultimately a Band-Aid approach that doesn’t get to the heart of the issue — which is the amount in taxes that people in the city of Detroit pay,” said Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., who wants the council to examine the impact of a smaller, citywide tax cut.
The ailing metropolis (if you can still call Detroit a “metropolis”) calculates, however, that an across-the-board tax-break would be so small as to be “negligible.”
That’s quite a shame, because some estimate that the City’s population has shrunk in the neighborhood of 7.5% since the 2000 census, and I’ve heard that they’re losing about 1,400 residents per month although this is unsubstantiated. Keep in mind that in the 1950s, Detroit’s population was near 2 million. It is now less than 900,000. Detroit ranks behind Indianapolis in population, yet, as far as I can tell (maybe I’m misreading the data), Detroit’s Budget is in the neighborhood of six times bigger than Indy’s Budget. Additionally, some 7% of Detroit’s revenue is from property taxes – compared to about 1/3 of Indy’s.
“We’re sensitive to the fact, particularly in these economic times, that everyone believes they deserve a tax break, but not everyone is paying the astronomical taxes these neighborhoods are,” said Jamaine Dickens, a mayoral spokesman.
The problem of course, is that it appears everyone in detroit does deserve a tax break. Until that point, any targeting, “urban renewal,” neighborhood “empowerment” or other such gobbledygook is nothing more than picking the winners and losers.
