Final sales tax public hearing today 1:30 pm

For the second time in a week, the Dayton Day-Old News selectively quoted me at the first sales tax hearing. All they managed to get out of my presentation was that the sales tax was regressive, hurting those with the smallest incomes the most.

What they left out was the majority of my speech- where I pointed out that Montgomery County has WAY too many governments- all adding to overhead. Watch the video:

For those of you who would rather read- here’s the text:

A sales tax increase hurts the working poor much more than any other tax you could impose. They don’t have the option of leaving the county to save, or to order online from retailers that don’t charge tax. It takes up a larger percentage of their disposable income, since other than food, rent and energy, this tax applies.

Montgomery County is already one of the highest taxed counties in the state by the time we finish paying for Health and Human Services’ two levies, Sinclair’s two levies,  Metroparks levy, the Library Levy, school levies, and anything else- like a street light assessment in Dayton.

When you look at the cost to business to try to keep up with the different income tax rates for all 28 jurisdictions in this county- you can call that a tax as well. The overhead of having too many chiefs for a declining number of Indians.

In the meantime- Warren County- is the fastest growing county. Their taxes are lower. And, they even get a Sinclair campus with no tax levy. Go figure.

But, the real tax that nobody wants to talk about is the politician tax. We have way too many politicians in Montgomery County. That’s because we allow almost anybody with a back 40 to become a city. The City of Moraine. 6000 people. And they have to pay for a mayor and commission, and a city manager- for $145,000.

That works out to $25 per person per year to pay for a guy who’s job it is to do exactly the same thing the County Administrator does.

The list goes on. Why does Jefferson Township have a school district, with a superintendent and a treasurer when all their students total 315? If we used that formula for Dayton, we’d have 41 superintendents.

And for another example, why do we have a Vandalia, Miamisburg, Kettering, Oakwood, Dayton and county municipal courts- with a website for each- none of which allows basic online filing? Hint, Franklin County has just one site- and one municipal court system.

No, raising taxes isn’t the answer anymore. It makes us uncompetitive.

Just like all of little fiefdoms add to our overhead – and don’t add much back.

With every less police chief- we could have two or more sheriff’s deputies on the streets.

With every less “City Manager” we could have more money for paving and sweeping streets.

With every less Court website we might have a single one that actually works.

If you are to be leaders, you need to come up with a better answer than just hiking another tax.

It’s time to hike some of these banana republics out of business- and have logical rational leadership with lower overhead and better management skills.

At ReconstructingDayton.org ^[1] we’ve begun working on the data sets and metrics to show Montgomery County Voters how much all of you politicians are costing them. Not only in pay per person they rule, but in how much payola per elected official it takes to get elected in Montgomery county so you can continue to raise our taxes to pay for all of you.

When voters see how much all these fiefdoms cost, maybe they will wake up and it will be time to slim down our governments instead of our wallets.

Thank you.

In between last week and this week, the supreme court issued a mandate for all online retailers to have to collect sales tax, regardless of if they have a presence in the state ^[2]. And while some say “Amazon already does this”- it’s not entirely true- since Amazon also manages some sales for other retailers, who don’t have to charge sales tax- this will make ALL orders subject to the tax.

Maybe the Commissioners should consider their new windfall, and delay this tax. I’ve already heard there are people ready to gather 15,ooo signatures to put this vote on the November ballot. I’ll be helping them.

It’s time to bring some sanity to our tax structures in Montgomery County- watch this page on Reconstructing Dayton ^[3] for more data on the breakdowns of cost per person for our elected officials, etc.  BTW- thanks to those of you who donated to help our cause last week. We’re a 501(c)(4) non-profit so you can donate, support a cause, and not have your name reported (just like the national PACs do it).

To say that YouthWorks, Pre-school promise (which is only in Kettering and Dayton right now) and the corporate welfare ED/GE program are critical to a functioning county government is an insult to the taxpayers, who have also been told that two Sinclair levies, two Health and Human Services levies, a Metroparks levy and a Library levy are also critical.

In today’s paper they even mentioned supporting the arts. How will the 25% of Montgomery County residents who are living in poverty, supposed to afford a ticket to the philharmonic before you increase the sales tax?

I can’t be there to speak today (I’ll be in court trying to get justice for a Service Disabled Veteran), so I’ll be sending a proxy.

If you want to go, it’s on the 10th floor of the County Administration building, 451 W. 3rd St. Dayton. Enter the parking garage from 2nd Street, and ask for your parking to be validated by the county commission. They shouldn’t be able to charge parking for a meeting. Festivities start at 1:30/