A city may not be able to change from a sales tax system to a different approach—it might be stuck with what the state allows—but that doesn’t make them helpless to overcome the challenges the sales tax presents.
Read More
For local governments, it’s often easier to let the tangled web of debt at the heart of the budget go unexplored. In cities reliant on sales tax, these problems are only magnified.
Read More
At a glance, the sales tax is a nearly invisible revenue source that is also a cash cow. Yet, for local governments, it is the most distorting of taxes. Here’s why.
Read More
Many factors affect how much your local economy is being impacted by COVID-19. One is whether your city is cripplingly dependent on just one or two revenue sources. And especially if you’re dependent on sales taxes.
Read More
Using tax incentives to subsidize retail is a lose-lose game that St. Louis's suburbs, desperate for short-term revenue, have been playing for too long. University City is mortgaging its future and selling out its small businesses with a $70 million subsidy for big-box development.
Read More
No, that mall out on the edge of town is not producing enough sales tax value to outweigh its terrible return on investment in terms of property tax value.
Read More
In the short term, you don’t want to lose the big box war. In the long term, the only thing worse than losing the big box war is winning it.
Read More