A Tax Cut Will Stimulate Oklahoma City's Economy with $80-90 Million in Additional Sales.
Voting “NO” gives a tax cut to the citizens of Oklahoma City starting April 1, 2010. The estimated cost of extending the MAPS tax is $10 a month per person. That's $120 a year or almost $500 a year for a family of four. Most of this money will be spent with other OKC merchants for goods and services more needed by families. What would an $80-90 million increase in sales mean to local businesses? Taxpayers and local businesses need the economic stimulus of a tax cut to survive this economic recession (depression?). Ironically, sales taxes on the new private sector sales increases because of the Maps tax cut stimulus will add $3 million a year or more to needed general funds for the City! Maybe we can hire more police.
Sales Taxes Are Regressive.
Proportionally, sales taxes place a heavier burden on those with lower incomes. The upper and upper middle class people pushing MAPS3 ridicule those who complain over “a few dollars a month.” While they may have to give up a couple of lattes for Maps3, a working class family may have to give up a can of Spam, baby formula or new shoes. The OKC Elite want to increase the value of their downtown properties with more taxpayer subsidies. Those who least benefit have done enough for them!
New Maps Projects Will Drive the City's Operating Budgets Deeper in the Hole.
All projects are for capital expenditures, with no provision for increased operating or maintenance costs. For instance, estimated operating costs for the street car are $3.5 million and the park $3 million.Moreover, even though OKC's population has grown, police and fire protection have not kept pace. We're short 200 police officers and 50 fire fighters. The City Council has called for 2% across the board spending cuts starting January, 2010. Further cuts are likely for the following year. The projected budget shortfall for five years is $10 million.
Maps3 is a Slush Fund for the City Council.
The Maps3 Tax is a blank check signed by the taxpayers. The MAP3 ordinance contains NO content. Instead, it refers to an Exhibit “A” that expresses their intent. There are no priorities or numbers associated with Exhibit “A”. Source: Council Agenda for Sept. 22, 2009. Five votes on the Council can change this intent at any time. The MAP3 program is totally fluid and subject to change.
Mick Cornett's Maps3 Numbers are as Fraudulent as Harry Reid's Obamacare Numbers.
Cornett claims Maps3 will collect $100 million a year ($777 million for 93 months). OKC's highest annual sales tax revenue for a penny of sales tax was $92.5 million, years before the financial crisis. 2009 sales tax revenues have declined for 9 months in a row. November's distribution was 12.3% less than the same month a year ago. Further, the NBA Tax (Maps for Millionaires) is falling short about $8-10 million when it expires in March, 2010. Those funds are already committed and must be made up out from the overstretched general fund. This is a primary reason for the 2% budget cut.
The Most Popular Projects are Being Used to Sell the Least Popular.
In a poll sponsored by the Oklahoma Gazette and News 9, the most support was for the least expensive projects – outdoor facilities and sidewalks. The least support was for the most expensive project, a new convention center to replace the renovated Cox Center.
The Smaller Projects Will Be Cut First. When projects need to be cut back, it will be the smaller, more popular projects that are cut back or eliminated first. Realistically, the larger projects cannot be shaved significantly without jeopardizing the entire project. How do you pare down a $280 million convention center or a $22 million a mile streetcar system? Moreover, the largest projects will have far more special interest favor than things like trails and sidewalks.
A “Temporary” Tax Needs to Expire.
If it doesn't expire, it is not temporary. When special interests speak of “keeping the momentum alive,” they really mean “let's not let the tax expire; we might not get it back.” The OKC Elite intend to keep extending the Maps Tax forever!
The Economy Continues to Slow. More Taxes Will Make It Worse!
The economic statistics are bleak and getting worse. Nationally foreclosures, bankruptcies and unemployment continue to worsen. At the state level, Oklahoma faces a $1 billion shortfall for next year. Oklahoma City is not immune. A recent report from OSU expects little or no growth in 2010 and more job losses in a “jobless recovery.” Taking more money out of the pockets of citizens to fund projects for the OKC Elite is the wrong thing to do at the wrong time.Oklahoma's unemployment is up to 7.2%. Taxpayers need a break! Oklahoma City needs the boost in spending from a tax cut. We don't need more taxes!
University of Texas Professor Dr. Heywood Sanders has published several studies that cast severe doubts on the "build it and they will come" model of building new convention centers as effective means of fostering economic development. You can see his 2005 Brookings Institution Study here. Related articles are here and here. The following quote is from a NewsOK post by a “George” from Edmond:
"There is one person who would like to inform the Oklahoma City Council and residents that a new convention center may not be the answer: Heywood Sanders, a researcher with the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has studied the move by cities to construct mega-convention centers since the 1980s and would differ from the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s consultant conclusion. “The reality is, there has been a huge increase in the amount of supply (convention space) over the last 10 to 15 years,” Sanders said. “Does that mean you get any more business? And the answer in general is ‘no.’”
Since the late 1990s, convention-generated business has been on a downward slide, according to Sanders’ research. Yet, during that same time, the number of cities and amount of convention center floor space skyrocketed, along with an increase in nearby hotel rooms.
At least 53 cities either built new or expanded existing convention centers since 2000.Between 1986 and 2006, the number of convention centers across the country increased from 193 to 322. But since 1996, the number of convention attendees dropped. Sanders said the current rate of attendance is at 1993 levels.
"Sanders pointed to several reasons why attendance is dropping, besides the current sagging economy. The reasons include better and faster modes of transportation that are decreasing attendance stay; telecommunications and the Internet make it possible to not attend, yet obtain the same information; and many conventions have simply become too expensive to attend, and with shrinking budgets, companies and governments are less likely to pay to send employees to conventions.
In 1993, Philadelphia opened a new convention center and reached a peak of hotel room nights associated with convention events in 2001, with more than 519,000 room nights. But by 2004, that number dropped to just under 364,000 and again in 2005 to barely 297,000, according to Sanders’ research."