Budget Proposal Passes Council’s Straw Vote
On Tuesday evening, residents upset over City Manager Curt Walton’s budget and capital investment plan flooded the Government Center to express their discontent over the 8.2% property tax increase called for by the plan.
Despite overwhelming opposition by those in attendance at the public hearing, and foreshadowed by some rather disingenuous commentary by Mayor Foxx following the completion of the speaker’s list, the City Council’s liberal Democrat majority voted 9-2 along Party lines on Wednesday to move forward with the plan. An official vote is scheduled for June 11.
It’s no secret that Charlotte continues to rank as the highest taxed municipality in North Carolina as a result of our high property and sales taxes.
That statistic by itself should send shivers into the hearts of would-be business investors and residents. Why come to Charlotte when just across the border in Fort Mill you can enjoy lower gas prices, lower sales taxes, and nearly half the property tax rate?
Indeed, earlier this year, this Council had to literally bribe a major corporation to move its headquarters to Charlotte with taxpayer money. If that isn’t a tacit admission of Charlotte’s unfavorable business climate, I don’t what is.
Even the Charlotte Knights, who want to move uptown for whatever reason, don’t seem to want to make the private investment necessary to make that happen. They feel forced to come with outstretched hands to the City.
There is a pattern developing here.
Those who want the services and handouts move here, those paying for the services are moving out. Eventually, we’ll have more people on the cart than pushing it, and there is simply no recovery from that. Detroit on the Catawba will be a reality.
For those recently critical of the “Detroit on the Catawba” jest, I have no tolerance for those who claim racial overtones. Detroit is the poster child for a city in decline due to complete and total mismanagement, and Charlotte is following in its footsteps. Truth is truth and ignoring that fact for some ridiculous commentary on race is just insulting to everyone’s intelligence. Moving on…
Even statistics being touted that Charlotte’s unemployment rate is falling are highly suspect. According to a March article in the Charlotte Business Journal, it is the shrinking labor pool that has been a major contributor to the declining unemployment rate…not some genuine turnaround in our economic viability.
The proposed property tax rate increase, on top of the already failed revaluation process, is not the way to turn this city around. Supposed economic development projects have consistently failed to meet projections in Charlotte, and this is expected. Government does not invest. Government is the least efficient consumer of wealth and only serves as a vehicle to redirect capital.
If you really want to help this city boom, the climate of over regulation and heavy taxation needs to be changed. Stop with the foolishness that if but for a streetcar to nowhere or an amateur sports arena, Charlotte would be the cream of the crop. This is nonsensical. The climate created by the taxes to pay for these toys are not conducive to real, private growth.
The mental disconnect seems to be that the Democrat councilmembers believe, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, that government spending can behave as a substitute for private investment. They believe earnestly that their actions will spark a revitalization of the declining areas of Charlotte this plan is designed to address.
What they fail to realize is that government doesn’t live in a vacuum. Their actions may lead to some tangible results, but unseen will be the harm accomplished by continuing the negative business climate of excessive taxes and burdensome regulation. The people who want to invest in the community simply won’t when the cost of doing business is too high.
A new organization in town, Charlotte Matters, has launched a campaign to encourage residents to be vocal about this proposed tax increase. They are asking for emails and phone calls to flood the offices of the four at-large councilmembers whose votes, along with Warren Cooksey and Andy Dulin, would be enough to kill this harmful proposal.
You can visit their website at Charlottematters.com. Their first ad is located about halfway down the page, along with links to the members contact information.
I agree that Charlotte matters. If we don’t save it soon, assuming there is still time, what a shame.
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