The Tyranny of the few.

[stormgren]

*sigh*

Looks like our local anti-tax loon got his recall petition language approved. This would, if it made it to ballot and passed, would recall the entire city government, possibly leaving it up to the Govenor to appoint.

Comments

[mogwar]

Every city in Michigan with an income tax that I am aware of handles it in the exact same way. Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Pontiac, Grand Rapids, you name it. The only difference is that traditionally Detroit has had a different rate than everyone else, although that is changing because the most recent census results constitutionally mandate it.

Every city with an income tax has difficulty enforcing it upon non-residents (those who merely work in the city). Detroit is no different. No employer is required to withhold city income tax for those employees who happen to live in a city where the employer has no presence, but they are required to do so when an employee works in a city with an income tax. That doesn't mean they do so, however.

My last two jobs were in Detroit, and neither employer was willing to withhold city income tax for me. In fact, most of my coworkers decided not to pay city income tax and hoped they weren't caught. I, of course, paid estimated taxes, since my employers couldn't be bothered to withhold and reported every dollar of income I had.

I am curious as to what economic effect this guy actually expects. There is a constitutional limit on the maximum income tax rates a city in Michigan is allowed to set, and it's pretty low. Our property tax is also on the low end, but I just checked, and even at the higher resident income tax rate, our property taxes last year were roughly three times our city income tax. It doesn't seem to make much sense to attempt to replace one with the other in any way.