Reducing or eliminating Detroit's city income tax

[Hypestyles]

... are we back to Newt's "tax-free-zone" fantasy again? geez...

[GPCharles]

At least the income tax is based on something real - your reported income.

The property tax is based on valuations [[assessments) that bear little relationship to reality.

[rjlj]

For 2013 the following Michigan cities levy an income tax of 1% on residents and 0.5% on nonresidents. Albion, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, Flint, Grayling, Hamtramck, Hudson, Ionia, Jackson, Lansing, Lapeer, Muskegon, Muskegon Heights, Pontiac, Port Huron, Portland, Springfield and Walker.
The exceptions to the above rates are as follows:

Residents	Nonresidents
Detroit	2.4%	1.4%
Grand Rapids	1.5%	0.75%
Highland Park	2%	1%
Saginaw	1.5%	0.75%

[noggin]

For 2013 the following Michigan cities levy an income tax of 1% on residents and 0.5% on nonresidents. Albion, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, Flint, Grayling, Hamtramck, Hudson, Ionia, Jackson, Lansing, Lapeer, Muskegon, Muskegon Heights, Pontiac, Port Huron, Portland, Springfield and Walker.
The exceptions to the above rates are as follows:

Residents	Nonresidents
Detroit	2.4%	1.4%
Grand Rapids	1.5%	0.75%
Highland Park	2%	1%
Saginaw	1.5%	0.75%

The big problem with municipal income taxes is they chase away prosperous citizens, leaving mostly low income and government supported ones. If there was not an income tax you would most likely see the housing in areas like Rosedale Park, Boston Edison, and Indian Village be triple the value they have now. The city would very likely come out ahead on the property taxes. Here is one more adder to the equation. These citizens are more likely to pay their taxes.

If you look at the difference in the streets straddling Alter Road it is quite clear the houses in GP Park are well kept up vs. the burned out hulks on the Detroit side. Essentially the houses are about the same age and construction.

[Gpwrangler]

The big problem with municipal income taxes is they chase away prosperous citizens, leaving mostly low income and government supported ones. If there was not an income tax you would most likely see the housing in areas like Rosedale Park, Boston Edison, and Indian Village be triple the value they have now. The city would very likely come out ahead on the property taxes. Here is one more adder to the equation. These citizens are more likely to pay their taxes.

If you look at the difference in the streets straddling Alter Road it is quite clear the houses in GP Park are well kept up vs. the burned out hulks on the Detroit side. Essentially the houses are about the same age and construction.

The taxes weren't a deciding factor for me. The lack of response to property crimes and uselesness of an alarm system clinched it.

[Detroitnerd]

The big problem with municipal income taxes is they chase away prosperous citizens, leaving mostly low income and government supported ones.

Only when your regional policy is to abandon the central city.

Oh, wait, that's right. New York City is all abandoned, and just full of poor folks.

[ABetterDetroit]

The big problem with municipal income taxes is they chase away prosperous citizens, leaving mostly low income and government supported ones. If there was not an income tax you would most likely see the housing in areas like Rosedale Park, Boston Edison, and Indian Village be triple the value they have now. The city would very likely come out ahead on the property taxes. Here is one more adder to the equation. These citizens are more likely to pay their taxes.

If you look at the difference in the streets straddling Alter Road it is quite clear the houses in GP Park are well kept up vs. the burned out hulks on the Detroit side. Essentially the houses are about the same age and construction.

The property tax rate is a far bigger problem than the income tax. Triple in value? A 300k house is currently taxed at $10266 a year. The exact reason it is very difficult for even the nicest residential property's to appreciate.
https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/pte...TEstimator.asp

[Spartan]

As long as companies pay 2-3% higher in the city, I see no problem with the income tax. I don't know if that's happening, but it is something that should be the responsibility of employer to mitigate. If there's one thing Detroit doesn't need, it's less tax revenue.

[DetroitPlanner]

Detroit was well on its way to reducing the income tax to 1.5% for residents and 0.75% for non-residents as part of the deal that brought casinos to town. And additional revenue sharing. Under Engler revenue sharing started to be cut and this continued under Granholm. Mayor Kilpatrick cried broke and a deal with the state was accepted by Gov Granholm.
http://bridgemi.com/2013/03/handshak...aunts-detroit/

[EastsideAl]

All sorts of major cities around the country have an income tax, yet some people in this area act like its some crazy thing unique to Detroit [[or something relatively new, but it goes back to 1962, well before they can blame it on Coleman Young). But the major government-related factor in dissuading business in Detroit is actually not the income tax, it is the lack of decent city serivces, the difficulties of dealing with undermanned departments, and the high licensing, etc. fees charged to businesses.

It's hard to see how a reduction in income taxes is going to do anything but make those things worse, particularly with the fallining property tax revenue from residences. It takes, and will always take, considerably more money to run a large city than a small suburb. If anything, the situation suggests that Detroit's tax rate should actually be a little higher, since then there would be more funds to allay some of these difficulties. Especially since the largest city and center of commerce in the state is certainly not going to ever be able to count on much money [[or even the money we once got, or for that matter the money we're owed) from our friends in Lansing.

[Willi]

If Duggan was really smart - he would seek out those attempting to start a business in the D.
Inquire about the trials tribulations , the hindrances, the pitfalls of getting started.
Find the businesses that didn't exist 5 years ago and talk to the owners.

Eliminate the bottlenecks, streamline the process and make it a bit more enjoyable
to bother with the red tape of getting something off the ground in the D.

Not everyone has the deep pockets of Gilbert, Ilitch, Taubman, etc., etc. and they need
good solid reasons why it makes economic sense to look with the borders of the D

[Cliffy]

If they changed the income tax to Detroit to 0, it would not do anything to bring people in with all the problems that we have talked about nonstop. Nobody is saying "I'm not moving to Detroit because of income tax".

[Gpwrangler]

If they changed the income tax to Detroit to 0, it would not do anything to bring people in with all the problems that we have talked about nonstop. Nobody is saying "I'm not moving to Detroit because of income tax".

Amen. Taxes like GP without services = just buy a fixer upper in GP

[Willi]

A fairly easy way to see how Detroit is represented financially

Look on the far LEFT hand side
- under Citizens Guide
--- click on Where the money comes from

http://www.munetrix.com/Michigan/Mun...y/City/Detroit

[sumas]

Maybe you should have lived in the 7th precinct. Response excellent, EMS superb.