I greatly enjoyed the March 7, 2019 lead story “Fiscal Slam Dunk for City?” Until now I thought this was the People's Democratic Republic of Alexandria. But after reading the March 14 article “City Inches Up Max Tax Rates” I now realize the city is led by secret closet Republicans led by our new mayor Justin “Tax Increase” Wilson. They must have kidnapped and interrogated the same folks who created the same type questionable logic behind the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act. The Act is supposed to pay for itself by increasing economic activity.
The slam dunk article notes the city will lose about $1 million in tax revenue per year. This is an upfront loss that must be offset by roughly $90 million in new, excess development, above and beyond what is currently planned. Hopefully that growth will occur over time. However, the tax loss occurs in current time. The city will probably incur other “growth” related costs before seeing any new real revenue. Also the article incorrectly implies there is no direct cost incentive. What is the $1 million tax loss? How dumb does city leadership think we are? It is money the city does not have. This is the kind of faulty creative reasoning was used to justify the 2017 tax bill. That is why they are closet Republicans.
Our city leadership is also very active in the “Secret Disciplines of William McKinley.” He created the first excise tax to pay for the 1898 Spanish American War. This creativity is apparent in the upcoming tax increase by splitting the school system costs into a separate tax. There will be a tax increase and it puts Alexandria in the lead on new ways to rape, pillage and plunder the taxpayer. I hallucinate that the same creativity will be applied to controlling expenses, such as stadium lights.
The bottom line is where is the benefit of Amazon HQ2? I do not see any. Plus many Alexandrians are negatively impacted by the new limits on state and local taxes deductions. Maybe those protesters in New York City had it right. The slam dunk is an economic pipe dream and marijuana is not even legal.
William L. Blumberg MBA
Alexandria