Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Stadium Tax to Run Forever. We TOLD You So!!

Yah.

...members of the Miller Park stadium board faced a new reality Tuesday: The stadium tax might not end in 2014 as originally anticipated.

Buffeted by changes in demographics and personal income in the five-county region where the 0.1% tax is collected, and the loss of sales-tax revenue when people shop on the Internet, the board is beginning to look at its options.

And it gets worse:

To retire the stadium debt, the district relies largely on the sales-tax revenue, its own investment performance and to some extent its ability to cut its own expenses.

You know--like not paying for repairs & maintenance, or not buying shiny new advertising signage, or BS like that.

"Cut expenses"? Really!

Well, what about all those fancy-Dan projections, made by really expensive consultants, paid for by (guess who?)--and relied upon by "Stick It To 'Em" Thompson in his package of neat deceptions? Huh? What about those, hey?

Berry said sales taxes are largely driven by demographics. If there are more people, and personal income is up, there is more discretionary income and people buy more goods and materials. But in the five-county region, he said, the population has dipped, and personal income in some recent years has dropped. That is at odds with growth in the rest of the state, he said.

S'pose taxes, taxes, and more taxes might have had some effect on that "population" and their jobs?

In addition, more people apparently are buying more goods and services over the Internet. And in many cases, there is no sales tax paid, Berry said.

Duuuhhhh. $3,500.00 gets you a new HDTV. You want that with or without 5.5% sales tax ($192.50) Repeat: Duuuuhhhhh.

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