The question for mayors and governors will be, ‘how much money can we extract from the people without causing extreme poverty and triggering widespread revolt?’
The answer, of course, is taxes. Primarily property taxes, because that’s the one thing people are still paying while locked down at home and unable to shop.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper is openly proposing raising property taxes by 32% in order to correct an estimated $250 million budget shortfall.
“There is no choice but to have a significant increase in property taxes,” he said. “Measured in a percent, it’s going to be on the order of more than 20 percent to be sure.” [Source]
Dallas, TX is looking at a proposed 8% increase in property taxes, and is having to work a loophole that allows them to ignore state law which would prevent them from raising taxes more than 3.5%. [Source]
Expecting a $700 million shortfall, Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot has said that a property tax increase is ‘on the table.’ [Source]
California is considering a partial reversal of Proposition 13, which would allow government to assess commercial properties differently, creating an increase in property tax revenue without actually increasing the property tax rate. [Source]
Other initiatives include “Arizona, where taxes would be raised on incomes above $250,000 to boost teacher salaries; Colorado, which is targeting corporations for at least $151 million in taxes to fund out-of-school learning; and North Carolina, which would issue bonds worth $1.9 billion in part to pay for school capital improvements.” [Source]
New York is pitching the idea of tax increases for wealthier people. [Source]
New Jersey is expected to see an unknown increase in taxes as the governor moves to borrow billions of dollars to cover budget gaps. [Source]
CNBC reports that many states across the nation will be looking at tax increases in many areas, including corporate income taxes, online purchases, excise and sales taxes, property taxes, and gross receipts taxes. [Source] – READ MORE
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