Lack of revenue can only be fixed by raising taxes, which requires voter approval. (or by the TIF suggestion I’m making here which is sort of a revenue move, but alternatively could be called ‘spend less on economic development’ or expense move.) My gut says Dallas has a bigger expense problem than we have a revenue problem. Nearly every department of the city runs at a higher cost per resident or cost per employee than similar departments in Fort Worth, Houston, SATX. Especially police and fire. Cutting spending there has very tough optics.
Couldn't revenue also be increased by attracting new residents? Increasing the number of high-earning taxpayers goes a long way toward helping city budgets.
We do not have an income tax in Texas, so the only way to attract new residents and then tax them is to build new housing (which I’m obviously for, that’s my day job). But if you just had a rich person move into a house in Dallas (that was already there last year) that’s not any new tax revenue. But yes, growing the population is the third lever here, and I would say they don’t even need to be high-earning. We just need to spread the burden here across more people.
Doesn’t that assume the house stays the same? Lots of old farm houses in Plano, Frisco, and Southlake were torn down to make way for more density and significantly more valuable homes. More tax revenue, no?
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/article/dallas-budget-council-police-overtime-library-22438299.php
"It may be time to allow tax increment finance districts to expire so the whole city can benefit from all the revenue they generate."
bro, ed board is jackin yo shit
Insightful takes, thanks for sharing. Isn’t the real issue a lack of revenue, though?
Lack of revenue can only be fixed by raising taxes, which requires voter approval. (or by the TIF suggestion I’m making here which is sort of a revenue move, but alternatively could be called ‘spend less on economic development’ or expense move.) My gut says Dallas has a bigger expense problem than we have a revenue problem. Nearly every department of the city runs at a higher cost per resident or cost per employee than similar departments in Fort Worth, Houston, SATX. Especially police and fire. Cutting spending there has very tough optics.
Couldn't revenue also be increased by attracting new residents? Increasing the number of high-earning taxpayers goes a long way toward helping city budgets.
We do not have an income tax in Texas, so the only way to attract new residents and then tax them is to build new housing (which I’m obviously for, that’s my day job). But if you just had a rich person move into a house in Dallas (that was already there last year) that’s not any new tax revenue. But yes, growing the population is the third lever here, and I would say they don’t even need to be high-earning. We just need to spread the burden here across more people.
Doesn’t that assume the house stays the same? Lots of old farm houses in Plano, Frisco, and Southlake were torn down to make way for more density and significantly more valuable homes. More tax revenue, no?
great piece, something that isn't talked about. I ran businesses in both PIDs and TIFs.
Mighty kind. Thanks!