Rand Paul has ideas of helping Detroit

[Detroit Stylin]

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/u...z/-/index.html


interesting....

[MotorCityTrikes]

We could use a little help.

[Meddle]

Dude needs to STFU, disappear and go back to being an obscure eye doctor.

[Wesley Mouch]

Dude needs to STFU, disappear and go back to being an obscure eye doctor.

I've prefer to know what you think about his ideas. Your opinion on him or his politics isn't very interesting.

[antongast]

I've prefer to know what you think about his ideas. Your opinion on him or his politics isn't very interesting.

"What is smarm, exactly? Smarm is a kind of performance—an assumption of the forms of seriousness, of virtue, of constructiveness, without the substance. Smarm is concerned with appropriateness and with tone. Smarm disapproves.


Smarm would rather talk about anything other than smarm. Why, smarm asks, can't everyone just be nicer?"

http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977

[Jimaz]

Rand Paul to propose lower tax rates to create jobs in Detroit

In July, Paul made headlines when he said a federal bailout of Detroit could only occur “over my dead body,” because the federal government did not have the money. No federal bailout of the city has been requested, and the Obama administration has rejected the idea.

Beware of geeks bearing gifts.

[rb336]

Semi-OK idea, but this is one of the most vehement supporters of maintaining the tax incentives for US businesses moving operations overseas in favor of the reverse.

[ct_alum]

Brilliant!
Detroit's tax base is disappearing and what does he want to do? Cut taxes!
Typical Republican b.s.

[faygoa1history]

The top 15% of wage earners pay 85% of all taxes while nearly half of adult americans pay zero taxes and get refunds above what was taken out of their earnings! OBM Statistics......

[Scottathew]

Brilliant!
Detroit's tax base is disappearing and what does he want to do? Cut taxes!
Typical Republican b.s.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't his idea to cut federal taxes to very low levels?

That would have no negative impact on Detroit's ability to collect taxes. If anything it would cause increased investment in the area, raise property values, and bring more taxpaying folks to the area.

I don't know if he's genuine in his desire to help Detroit. Sounds like a cheap ploy that he knows won't work so he can try to build political capital with Detroit.

Folks in Detroit say, "Hey he's trying to lower our taxes, YAY!".

Repbulicans say, "Lower taxes are good, this will never go anywhere anyway. There's little risk of the brown people getting our money."

[mwilbert]

A Detroit-specific reduction in federal taxes would obviously be beneficial to the city; how beneficial would depend upon the details.

However, that isn't ever going to happen, because who outside the area would vote for it? Instead, the most you would get would be a set of areas around the country which met some criteria for economic distress which would get a tax break. Once you start expanding the areas covered, the revenue losses become large as companies go tax-shopping and you can't offset them so the size of the tax breaks falls and you get a nothingburger.

[Richard]

As of now in the city one building is considered a enterprise zone,that concept works in cities on a smaller scale,but Detroit is large.

If you take an entire zip code and create a tax zone it helps everybody across the board,combine it with the grants already available and property tax breaks for x amount of time it makes a difference on a larger scale.

It is short term loss for a more stable long term gain with the trickle affect of a stable family living in and supporting the city with their purchasing power.

Nobody wants that $500 house that has $5000 a year in taxes,and it is stated here all of the time that certain areas are gone and nobody wants them so level them and plant trees.

Change the structure of the system,if nobody wants them,change it to make it feasible.

This is nothing new,it is tried and proven elsewhere,so it does work across the board and everybody benefits.

Packard gets a can of paint just as does the homeowner 5 blocks away,it kinda eliminates the rebuilt building in the middle of a surrounding slum [[harsh)aspect.

[ferndalien]

That elimination of the capital gains tax he proposes for the city will really help the working poor with their stock portfolios.

Seriously, he could have at least pretended he was trying to help the people he came here to start "outreach" with had he stuck to the federal income tax reduction only. That could possibly help employed residents - that is, if you don't subscribe to the whole "47% don't pay taxes" thing. The capital gains elimination is all about those mythic "job creators" we hear so much about from him and his brethren.

It could also be argued that this is in fact a federal bailout of Detroit, over his not-dead body. Unless he's eliminating federal spending in equal amounts to the revenue no longer collected from these income tax breaks, the rest of the country has to make up the difference somehow. Hence, Houston bails out Detroit.

[Cliffy]

I always laugh at these Republican ideas because they are always slanted to the elites. I mean capital gains tax elimination LOL. Like that is going to help anyone making under 1 mil a year in annual income. The only good thing about the Republicans is that they are honest that they hate blacks and Mexicans and want to help the rich.

[Cliffy]

The top 15% of wage earners pay 85% of all taxes while nearly half of adult americans pay zero taxes and get refunds above what was taken out of their earnings! OBM Statistics......

T

Thats not true. You can't pay zero taxes and get a refund.

[Wesley Mouch]

T

Thats not true. You can't pay zero taxes and get a refund.

I believe you can. Its called the Earned Income Tax Credit. Its a 'Negative Income Tax'.

I've been intrigued by the idea of Negative Income Tax rates. It been asserted that it is a much better way of helping the working poor than a minimum wage. Minimum wages make less skilled workers cost as much as more skilled workers. What do you think that does for entry level jobs?

From the ever accurate wikipedia: "The earned income tax credit has been part of political debates in the United States regarding whether raising the minimum wage or increasing EITC is a better idea."

[Wesley Mouch]

...However, that isn't ever going to happen, because who outside the area would vote for it? ...

The main reason this won't happen is because we as a country need to reform our city governments, not encourage more inefficiency. Along with lots of bad things, this financial crisis is at last bringing reform.

Ask people who work in government [[outside of Detroit). I've heard stories about how over the last dozen years they're reorganized their workforces. Moved to 401k pensions. Downsized. Computerized records. Consolidated with other cities.

If we 'bail out' Detroit, then we will just get a chance to 'bail out' the 10% of cities that haven't reformed. Then next up... bail out States. I don't like the idea of Michigan sending cash to Illinois to fix their pension mess. Do you?

[JBMcB]

I mean capital gains tax elimination LOL. Like that is going to help anyone making under 1 mil a year in annual income.

You're looking at it from the wrong end. It makes *investing* in Detroit business [[and government, and real estate) cheaper, roughly 15-25% cheaper, as your dividends aren't taxed.

[poobert]

Predictable.

What's incredible to me is that these Tea Party guys are allegedly the brave rogues, gloriously fighting the Republican establishment. Yet this is the same old party line. Lower taxes and milk and honey will flow.

Meanwhile corporate tax rates are at their lost levels since WWII. Average wage growth, meanwhile, has been stagnant for a decade, while worker productivity has skyrocketed.

The deficit is out of control, and Detroit is bankrupt, and we're supposed to cut taxes? And these are madmen who scream and rant about fiscal responsibility?

Bush reliably cut taxes for a decade and turned a blind eye towards regulation and we ended up in the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Oh, right, it's okay to be fiscally responsible when you're cutting aid to the poor, elderly, and young. Calls from compassion, from, say, the Pope, are met with howls about Marxism and downright indecencies. http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themarg...ama-an-orgasm/

The Tea Party hate group makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I could not be happier about the Civil War that is engulfing the Republican Party.

I'm equally sick of the parties being beholden to special interests. For Republicans, it's straight corporatism.

More than anything Detroit needs a streamlined bureaucracy [[friendlier to businesses and residents alike) and adequate services. I don't mind paying my fair share - like most right-thinking people - as long as I'm getting bang for my buck.

[mwilbert]

The main reason this won't happen is because we as a country need to reform our city governments, not encourage more inefficiency. Along with lots of bad things, this financial crisis is at last bringing reform.

Ask people who work in government [[outside of Detroit). I've heard stories about how over the last dozen years they're reorganized their workforces. Moved to 401k pensions. Downsized. Computerized records. Consolidated with other cities.

If we 'bail out' Detroit, then we will just get a chance to 'bail out' the 10% of cities that haven't reformed. Then next up... bail out States. I don't like the idea of Michigan sending cash to Illinois to fix their pension mess. Do you?

Since this proposal wouldn't give money to the city government, especially not in the short term, but merely encourage economic activity in the city, I don't really think it would provide much incentive to keep Detroit unreformed, nor do I think that is the reason it is not going to happen.

[mwilbert]

Predictable.

What's incredible to me is that these Tea Party guys are allegedly the brave rogues, gloriously fighting the Republican establishment. Yet this is the same old party line. Lower taxes and milk and honey will flow.

I share your distaste for Ron Paul and his ilk, but you don't have to believe that lower tax rates are a panacea to believe that lowering the tax rate in Detroit specifically vs the rest of the country would cause some economic activity to shift to Detroit. It wouldn't be great for Southfield or Toledo, though.

[Wesley Mouch]

"What is smarm, exactly? Smarm is a kind of performance—an assumption of the forms of seriousness, of virtue, of constructiveness, without the substance. Smarm is concerned with appropriateness and with tone. Smarm disapproves.


Smarm would rather talk about anything other than smarm. Why, smarm asks, can't everyone just be nicer?"

http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977

Guilty as charged. I'm all in favor of everyone being nicer. And staying with substance over ad hominem attacks.

[Cliffy]

You're looking at it from the wrong end. It makes *investing* in Detroit business [[and government, and real estate) cheaper, roughly 15-25% cheaper, as your dividends aren't taxed.

There will not be investing. It will be a loophole and a post office box rented on fort street so companies can say they have an address in Detroit to not have to pay federal taxes. Nobody thats large is going to move from wherever their headquarters are to Detroit. Its just not happening.

[JBMcB]

It will be a loophole and a post office box rented on fort street so companies can say they have an address in Detroit to not have to pay federal taxes.

Probably not for most companies. Investors like companies incorporated in Delaware, because of the strict disclosure laws. Fly-by-night companies are usually incorporated in Nevada, for example, because of their lax disclosure laws.

A few companies will probably will use the rate as a loophole [[the kinds of companies that also incorporate in Nevada) but that doesn't preclude increased investment in the city. Heck, there is already increased investment in the city - the lack of tax will encourage more investment.

[ghettopalmetto]

"Economic freedom zones" = Dickensian existence.

I can only assume that Sen. Paul has already fixed Kentucky's problems. Maybe he should try his social engineering there.