To put it another way, I don’t think this plan will work since it hasn’t worked yet. However, throwing a bunch of money at businesses might attract them to town. But that’s taxpayer money.

In the macro-economic view it’s likely for a repeal of the tax to be made up for in economic growth. That’s the case on the Federal level which we saw under Reagan and under Bush (43), and is likely to happen here also.

Small businesses would be affected which would create more jobs or raises for existing employees (they have to compete for good help, too.) That money would be put back into the economy by employees, creating improvements in economic conditions which in turn creates more jobs and more spending. In addition I’m sure there are businesses in surrounding areas that would be attracted to Tacoma if it were a little less hostile to them. If they moved in to downtown or just into the city limits it would put more money into the ecomony (businesses spend money, too).

I’m also for smaller government, so I’d like to see a repeal of the B&O tax accompanied by cuts in government spending. If someone holds a zero-sum-gain view of tax cuts then those spending cuts would be justified. Even if you don’t hold that view I’m sure they could find a few expenses to cut that no one would really miss.

But creating this financial district with the accompanying expenditures for infrastructure and improvements that have been promised as well as the parking structure means someone will have to pay for it. Throw in the expenses for the Murray Morgan bridge and this city is going to have to come up with a lot of money. That probably means higher taxes.

I also find it ironic that the city would admit that a tax break makes the area more attractive to businesses by offering it to Russell in this package. But they don’t seem to consider that the same would be true for any business looking to locate (or just to stay) in Tacoma.

There are much fewer expenditures. The B&O tax savings by Russell with the package would have never been collected if Russell leaves.

“How about eliminating the local B&O tax altogether?”

Good idea. Its making Tacoma a difficult place to do business in.

The city manager has tried to remove the B&O tax but faced resistance.

Al least removing it for some areas is better than nothing.

If you are a republican, you should be for less taxes. The B&O taxes being imposed are especially bad because they given an incentive to build away from current infrastructure.