I have some questions and concerns if Detroit is so damn poor.

**brizee** · December-19-11, 10:07 AM

That's been the beat of the drum for awhile.

I reached my boiling point with the bus nonsense last week. So I have some questions regarding what exactly is stopping Detroit from implementing these money making schemes.

1. A nickel on every fast food order. No matter the amount of food or price just one nickel per fast food order placed. It doesn't even have to be permanent. Place it for five years and I bet you could drop a train down every major street in this city.

2. Decriminalizing, legalizing and profiting off marijuana. No damn reason we should actually spend money to lock people up when there's so much revenue to be collected. Make it like liquor license, only responsible vendors and sellers. Call it the green card. Tax it at 70-90 percent. Don't like that don't sell it. You won't ever have to threaten a measly rec center or park with closing again.

3. Giving away homes. We have a surplus of rotting houses. Announce nationwide any college graduates that move here and stay for 3/5/10 years get a free home, property tax free for a duration. It won't bring in property but you get income, and a blighted area gets rejuvenated a little.

**corktownyuppie** · December-19-11, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by brizee

That's been the beat of the drum for awhile.

I reached my boiling point with the bus nonsense last week. So I have some questions regarding what exactly is stopping Detroit from implementing these money making schemes.

1. A nickel on every fast food order. No matter the amount of food or price just one nickel per fast food order placed. It doesn't even have to be permanent. Place it for five years and I bet you could drop a train down every major street in this city.

2. Decriminalizing, legalizing and profiting off marijuana. No damn reason we should actually spend money to lock people up when there's so much revenue to be collected. Make it like liquor license, only responsible vendors and sellers. Call it the green card. Tax it at 70-90 percent. Don't like that don't sell it. You won't ever have to threaten a measly rec center or park with closing again.

3. Giving away homes. We have a surplus of rotting houses. Announce nationwide any college graduates that move here and stay for 3/5/10 years get a free home, property tax free for a duration. It won't bring in property but you get income, and a blighted area gets rejuvenated a little.

All these ideas are good ones that I would personally advocate.

Problem is that each has political enemies:

[[1) Making a sales tax on a specific category of businesses may not be legal. Could be, but not sure.

[[2) I'm all for #2. It'll probably happen. Just not in the next 5-10 years. Too much political opposition. You can make an argument that you will likely decrease grisly drug war homicides in Mexico while you're doing it.

[[3) This needs to happen, but first issue is that Detroit needs to take ownership of the homes, which is complicated and slow because our legal system puts individual property rights as one of the highest values.

All good ideas though. Now find a way to navigate the political and legislative process to get them done...that's where rubber meets road.

**Russix** · December-19-11, 12:40 PM

1)Wait, don't we already have a fast food tax? It was a Kwame-era invention, I thought it passed? or did it die?

2) Since the legal dope is on a down slide. I've heard one of the city council members talk about making it like a $5 fine to stop destroying lives and wasting city resources putting people through the system. I don't think the city can tax it until some changes are made at the federal level.

3) Homes are pretty much free here. Money lending for improvements is a problem right now.

**maxx** · December-19-11, 12:46 PM

re: legal mj

You just have to have the right people at the state's top.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/...millions_marij

**mwilbert** · December-19-11, 05:04 PM

If every family in Detroit did a fast food order every day, that tax would raise about $5 million/year, which isn't even enough to pay the theoretical operating deficit of the Woodward line.

**brizee** · December-19-11, 05:16 PM

Dude I just threw out an idea bouncing in my head in a 60 second post. No need to be that literal.

**401don** · December-19-11, 05:23 PM

It's ridiculous watching the DEA guys on tv. They risk their lives and spend a fortune to get some little street dealer two rungs up the ten step ladder and by the time they go home for the night the guy has been replaced by 10 other guys.
Another huge problem with minor drug convictions is all the citizens no longer eligible to work. Almost every job from warehouse to security to healthcare requires a clear record. So the cycle continues.

**Lowell** · December-19-11, 06:20 PM

Another bonanza worth countless millions lies in negotiating a European Union-equivalent treaty with Canada that would remove the need for Canadians to have passports, or even stop, to enter the US. The greatly restricted border has damaged tourism and the behavior of some crossing guards has poisoned the will of many to come visit Detroit and its attractions.

Freeing border traffic will increase tourism and business opportunities while reducing waste created by delays and maintaining a de facto military presence in the form of border guards that now line the US shoreline.

Citizens of countries that murdered millions of each others youth in recent memory now cross into each other's countries with hardly a wink. Certainly we can figure out a way to work this out with Canada, a country with whom we have been a peace for nearly 2 centuries and are allies in war now.

**wolverine** · December-19-11, 07:22 PM

To expand on #1 you could impose or raise a tax on soft drinks....if Michigan doesn't already tax this. It's probably the one tax customers never seen to complain much about. Soft drink companies, yes, but the tax is usually so miniscule, businesses won't see it cut into their profits.

A few businesses I saw changed $1.50 fountain drink to $1.55 to reflect the 3% tax. Chipotle got even more creative, and some of their menu boards had 5 decimal places on the end. It was eventually changed when they raised prices.

Ravine · December-19-11, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by brizee

Dude I just threw out an idea bouncing in my head in a 60 second post. No need to be that literal.

If the idea was not meant to be taken seriously, maybe you should have presented it differently or thrown it out before logging on.

**brizee** · December-19-11, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by Ravine

If the idea was not meant to be taken seriously, maybe you should have presented it differently or thrown it out before logging on.

I was asking about what's to stope general ideas from being imple...

Fuck it.

The point of the post was perfectly clear.

**milesdriven** · December-20-11, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by wolverine

To expand on #1 you could impose or raise a tax on soft drinks....if Michigan doesn't already tax this. It's probably the one tax customers never seen to complain much about. Soft drink companies, yes, but the tax is usually so miniscule, businesses won't see it cut into their profits.

A few businesses I saw changed $1.50 fountain drink to $1.55 to reflect the 3% tax. Chipotle got even more creative, and some of their menu boards had 5 decimal places on the end. It was eventually changed when they raised prices.

In Ohio, any beverage that has sugar added has sales tax applied, unless it is purchased with food stamps. On the other hand, any food that is carried out from a restaurant is not taxed [[with the exception of aforementioned beverages). Toledo also has the most restaurants per capita in the continental US.

**DinNC** · December-20-11, 02:23 PM

I'm not sure if adding a tax to anything is the only way out of this mess. Stephen Henderson's article in the freep talks about the legacy cost for Detroit. If/When we free up some of that $ I think that could help. To me the light rail will cost money, but will bring in $ through investment in the city and bring people [[tax base) back to the city. Just my thoughts.

**DetroitPlanner** · December-20-11, 07:06 PM

1. Cities and Counties in Michigan cannot pass a sales.tax. This is state law. They are supposed to get a percentage of the State sales tax from revenue sharing.

2. Unless this happens on a national or statewide basis, Detroit will become a city full of nar-do-wells. It will be a magnet for the scum that operates at the bottom rung of society. Since the State does not allow Cities to have a sales tax it would be a horrible idea and just fill the city with crackheads. I would even offer that the best way to clean up Detroit is if some other community did this, which is not likely to happen.

3. New college grads don't make a lot of money. The last thing most want is a money pit.

3.

**Goose** · December-20-11, 07:19 PM

anyone making over 100,000 should be taxed at 90% of any amount over 100,000, that is like 5 times more than the average salary in Detroit, they can live without the money

**downtown_racine** · December-20-11, 07:34 PM

^ LoLz on so many levels ^

**cman710** · December-20-11, 08:32 PM

2.

Decriminalizing, legalizing and profiting off marijuana. No damn reason we should actually spend money to lock people up when there's so much revenue to be collected. Make it like liquor license, only responsible vendors and sellers. Call it the green card. Tax it at 70-90 percent. Don't like that don't sell it.

The main problem with implementing this is that even if you changed state law, federal law prohibits the sale of marijuana. Also, I have always wondered, if you taxed it so heavily, wouldn't that help maintain a black market for the drug?

**old guy** · December-20-11, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by cman710

2.

The main problem with implementing this is that even if you changed state law, federal law prohibits the sale of marijuana. Also, I have always wondered, if you taxed it so heavily, wouldn't that help maintain a black market for the drug?

Of course it would. But it would be more like people doing cash transactions at art fairs or flea markets. People are always going to have an angle. It's almost an American tradition.

**Trumpeteer** · December-20-11, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by Goose

anyone making over 100,000 should be taxed at 90% of any amount over 100,000, that is like 5 times more than the average salary in Detroit, they can live without the money

OK Clueless, then I'll stop being productive when I reach the $100k level?????? Now go back to your job at McD's. BTW YOU can live without MY money then.

**corktownyuppie** · December-20-11, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Goose

anyone making over 100,000 should be taxed at 90% of any amount over 100,000, that is like 5 times more than the average salary in Detroit, they can live without the money

As a member of the "over 100,000" club, let me say that if you tax me at 90% rates on any money over the 100,000, I will move out of the city. You would then lose out on the $3,000 in taxes I pay every year. Plus all the commerce from spending grocery, gas, and entertainment money in the city. And also I'd have to fire the 3 assistants who I pay to hand polish all my gold coins.

It's one of those ideas that sounds like it would work, because I considered it too. But when you take the idea and actually play it out, it doesn't work that way. It would be an easy solution if it worked...so I understand where you're coming from.

There are other ways for lower income citizens to benefit from the higher income people around us. But the way you propose isn't one that effectively accomplishes what you're setting out to do.

**Dexlin** · December-21-11, 06:06 AM

I can't believe you guys are falling for Gooses sarcasm. He or she is one of our most rabidly right wing forumers, here, which, BTW, are too many.

**Trumpeteer** · December-21-11, 08:40 AM

If that's the case then my comments were out of line. However, unless you "know" a person/poster it's virtually impossible to read sarcasm into a comment. Also Dexlin, are you really saying that there are "too many" on the right on this forum?