City Sales Tax Issue

The State Journal-Register reported "At least half of Springfield aldermen oppose raising sales tax" apparently to 8.75%. Springfield has a population around 115,715. Seattle, Washington has an official population of 608,660 as of the 2010 census, but the wider metro area has a population of at least 3.5 million people. The state of Washington has no income tax. Seattle has a sales tax of 9.6%. 6.5% of which goes to the state, 2.7% goes to the city of Seattle.

Currently, Springfield's sales tax rate is 6.25% but the total combined city, county and state sales tax is already at 8.5%, plus there's an income tax rate ranging from 3.75% to 4.95%.

The problem: Population shrinkage. According to the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED), The civilian labor force in Springfield, Illinois peaked in 2010 and as of November 2017, was at the level it was in 2005, and continuing to decline.

[edit] Looking at the Per Capita Personal Income in Springfield, IL (MSA) shows a steady increase since 1970, but this chart relies on whose data is collected. It could reflect the growth of income inequality. In other words, poor people earning less while wealthy people earn more. Wages have been stagnant over the last 30 years, while capital gains increased dramatically.

The unemployment rate in Springfield, IL according to FRED seems to be declining almost in a similar fashion as the Civilian Workforce, meaning the unemployment rate is lower because there are fewer jobs and fewer people.

So, imagine what a tax increase would do to Springfield. Some factors include the following:

• People inextricably tied to their home because the mortgage is "underwater" or there are no buyers looking.
• People in retirement or nursing care facilities on fixed incomes.
• People inextricably tied to a government job that requires them to reside in or around Springfield.
• Businesses whose customers are most frequently the people listed above.
• Crain's: Slow growth, aging population plaguing Illinois.

Eventually, the tax burden will fall on who remains in town. It might be wise to relocate people away from the oldest, most vulnerable infrastructure and close off those older parts of Springfield until such a time as industry returns to the area.

Sub-Woofer Woes

Sound Violations are one of many ordinances that might be considered a solution for waning revenue from sales and income taxes, despite calls by the public for cuts in government salaries.

Suddenly in Springfield

There's talk of spending millions of dollars on infrastructure replacement in Springfield, Illinois. The trend has been to use the claim of infrastructure maintenance necessity to justify sudden massive increases in utility rates in the city.

I contend that such maintenance requirements are common knowledge and should have been included in already existing taxes and fees. Therefore, I conclude that corruption is rampant on a scale that requires federal intervention.

The city of Springfield has an old generation that spent huge amounts of money to build Springfield right after World War II, and when they were done, they sat back and retired, and complained bitterly about taxes.

They didn't want to pay taxes and their politicians promised not to raise taxes, and now that they are all dying off, they can go peacefully without a worry for themselves, or so they thought.

Suddenly, money is needed to fix things. Now water, sewer and other city service charges are doubled, tripled, or quadrupled. Why? Those idiots didn't want their taxes increased to create a surplus for such needed maintenance. If they allowed for a gradual increase in taxes to maintain a budget surplus in anticipation of repair or infrastructure growth, there would be no issue here. The money would be available.

If the budget was planned properly and there was still a need for sudden increases in fees by the city, than a federal investigation needs to be initiated, and people jailed for stealing the money.

So what is the solution? Leave Springfield, Illinois. Move out. Those who leave now will join others who left when schools were desegregated.

The commutes to work will be longer and harder. Sales taxes locally will be the only way to shore up the city coffers.

The flipside is the gentrification of Springfield. The only people who will stay will be those that can afford it. But I have bad news. More than two-thirds of the population of Springfield earns less than ten dollars per hour.

Allegedly local business owners have influence with local politicians. Did they influence local politicians into keeping past utility rates too low? Do the majority of these local business owners actually live within the Springfield city limits?

If the majority of the local business owners reside elsewhere, they might be inclined to think they will suffer no long-term consequences for dangerously low utility rates and city taxes. They can pull up stakes and move elsewhere, that's why most of them only lease the property upon which they do business.

Except for farming, SPFLD's well of commerce is drying up, my friends.

Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist's visit to the Illinois Policy Institute appears to have been a $100 plate anti Clinton campaign. The so-called "leave us alone coalition" against taxation and government intrusion apparently never cracked open any books by John Steinbeck or Upton Sinclair. If they somehow were prompted to remember that government regulations were created because people actually died, they would flee such an organization like rats from a sinking ship.

The State Journal Register's new owner, Gatehouse Media may be gradually adjusting the tone of the entire paper more to the right each day. I would like to believe that it's Gatehouse and not local editors that are responsible for it because this gradual shift also appears to be occurring in religious institutions.

The Pope and other competing religious interests have all suddenly become more conservative, almost pre-industrial tribalistic in their rhetoric. Just before his death this year, Dr. D. James Kennedy compared those who believe in evolution to Stalin, Hitler, and the mad scientists of Eugenics.

All the conservative institutions are showing their ire like the last surge of speed from a lawnmower before it runs out of gas.