Commuter tax is a terrible idea

[Unregistered]

With the control board ready to administer the finances of Buffalo and seek ways to reduce expense and increase revenue, the idea of a commuter tax is resurfacing. Buffalo is struggling to retain its existing business base and attract additional companies under the most difficult economic circumstances.
To even consider implementing a commuter tax sends out precisely the wrong message. To penalize employees who live in the suburbs and work in Buffalo by adding to their already heavy tax burden is absurd. With unemployment at high levels and many families fighting to just get by, the last thing Western New Yorkers need is a commuter tax.

Suburban residents who work in the city are crucial to the economy in a multitude of ways. Their employers are either property owners who pay substantial city, county and state real estate taxes or their employers pay rentals that make it possible for the landlord to pay those taxes.

Suburban residents who work in the city patronize stores, restaurants, hotels, sporting events, etc., and spend money on NFTA public transportation and parking meters, lots and ramps, which also contribute to the city's finances.

Think about the employer who lives in the suburbs and is considering relocating or opening a new business in Buffalo. Is a commuter tax going to be just enough to turn him away?

In an era where job creation and retention are at the top of our agenda, how many jobs might be lost if a commuter tax plus gasoline, travel and parking expenses caused a good employee to relocate to a job outside of the city?

We should be thinking of ways to encourage and invite suburbanites to work in Buffalo instead of discouraging them by a commuter tax. We also should campaign to eliminate that annoying 50-cent toll for people entering Buffalo via the Niagara Thruway.

C. STUART HUNT
Amherst

www.buffalo.com

[Allyssa]

In my opinion, I beleive if someone is collecting a paycheck from the city of Buffalo then they should have enough respect to live in the city. There are too many not giving back to the city. Just a "take, take, take" and I think that's part of the financial problems. Like the Buffalo teachers that have to maintain a city address to work for the city, it should be like that for everything.

I agree though, the commuter tax is a wrong way of producing money for the city... there are too many taxes already in place for the people. If I were a child, I'd pray for a modern day Robin Hood to save us all from the taxes.:)

[Unregistered]

There's a wonderful course you should take at ECC. It's called Economics 101 and the curriculum includes how the economy works and how people and businesses behave when exposed to certian economic conditions. It's a science, as real and indisputable as physics or chemistry. I think you would really get a lot out of it because you seem you have absolutly no knowedge if the discipline whatsoever.

[Allyssa]

HUH???

The point I wanted to make is that people who work for the city should live in the city. It's like someone working for Tops and doing all of their shopping at Wegman's. It's just a little opinion about giving back to the one's that pay for a person's Livelihood.

[Unregistered]

"The point I wanted to make is that people who work for the city should live in the city. It's like someone working for Tops and doing all of their shopping at Wegman's. It's just a little opinion about giving back to the one's that pay for a person's Livelihood."

Yes, that's a great idea. Say, I think you should go to your bosses house today and mow his lawn for him, for nothing at all. Shouldn't you "give a little back" too? Or perhaps you should live in an apartment he owns and you should shop at the overpriced store he owns as well. After all, he DOES pay for your livelihood. Dosen't that sound fair? No?
I'm telling you - Econ 101 - it's a real hoot!

[Unregistered]

See how people twist what other say?

You know there are certian areas where in all honestly people should live where they work.

If you are a cop wouldn't you like your city be top notch where you live?

This goes for places like cheektowaga where board members don't live in the area where they are making the decisions. You would care as much if your decisions or actions ruined an area you didn't live in. Now if you live in that area you'll work a little harder to keep your own backyard nice.

YOu know what has happened to WNY? the little thiefdoms have gotten out of hand.

Who acutally controls WNY? the residents? or just select few that do thier best to profiteer from what is left here?

Just look around you. We have a school superindenant that takes a $30,000 raise even though she's getting $150,000. THat $30,000 could be one more teacher for our kids. Go figure.

[Allyssa]

to the first unregistered user,
People that have Buffalo jobs should live in Buffalo and support Buffalo. And that's what I meant by "giving back" a little. But you see, I don't have a city job and I cut my own grass and give back to the community by calling the police when there's trouble on the street corner. I give back more than many BUT if I did have a city job, I'd have no problem living in the city that supports me. and spending my money in the city, and pay the city taxes. I'd have no problem giving back to the community.

I don't think I need a college course on economics to form my own opinion. It wasn't my intention to site everything that's wrong with the city... I merely wanted to state my thought on a wrongful notion of commuter tax... if Buffalo empolyees maintain city adresses the population wouldn't be decreasing, some of the financial difficulties wouldn't be as bad as they are now and there would be no need to have the thought of a commuter tax.


to the next unregistered user,
I agree with you.

I know a few Buffalo police officers whom own homes in surrounding towns, and that is my point. Part of the reason for all of the crime in Buffalo is because the officers outside of the city resdience don't enforce the hooligans breaking a city curfew, yet heaven forbit they're should be graffiti spraypainted on a boarded up building in Amherst, Clarence and etc.

and, Quite a few city schools suspended service at the close of this schoolyear due to the Board of Education's debt as well, Kensignton High School for example. And the only sufferers are the children.because these kids... the future of Buffalo's workforce are learning in a failing school system and then they will be fed into the failing society of Buffalo.

Buffalo is our backyard. And bordering resdients shouldn't have the right to jump our fences and enjoy the finances, collect the paycheck and jump back into another world like Cheecktowaga, West Seneca and etc. to pay their taxes and support their residencial communities.

Allyssa

[WNYresident]

Good thing this is the USA and we can have our own opinions!

Shouldn't the residents tell the city workers what the rules are? not the other way around?

You know I wouldn't complain as much if you didnt' hear of so much abuse of the system and the patronage.

You end up hiring a lot of unqualified people you end up with the results that we have.

[Unregistered]

"I don't think I need a college course on economics to form my own opinion."
I don't need a course on aerospace engineering to form an opinion on why the space shuttle crashed. I may have an opinion on the crash, but it probably has little of no value in determining what actually happened that day. That's because I am uneducated on that subject, as you are uneducated as to what is happening in Buffalo and why.

"Buffalo empolyees maintain city adresses the population wouldn't be decreasing, "
Just about everyone who does leave is NOT a city employee - enacting that regulation would be like throwing a chair off the Titanic to stop it from sinking....

"And bordering resdients shouldn't have the right to jump our fences and enjoy the finances, collect the paycheck and jump back into another world like Cheecktowaga, West Seneca and etc. to pay their taxes and support their residencial communities.
"
Yes, I agree. you should build a fence around the city. or a wall. like the Berlin wall. The berlin wall was built to keep people IN communist East Germany. Maybe if you built a wall, you could keep all the young people from leaving.
This nation has a concept of economic freedom of choice - it's called the 6th amendment to to constitution of the USA. July 4th would be an execellent time to read up on it and understand what the founding fathers were trying to accomplish with that amendment.

[Allyssa]

As far as the chairs on Titanic goes... the City of Buffalo is sinking into Lake Erie and you First Class suburbanites are the ones floating in the lifeboats nearby allowing us to all to die in the bitter cold water. We're going down my the head and all you can do is sit there and complain about a commuter tax that, I agreed with you was wrong.

But, heck, you know what? you're right... and I'm wrong.

Perhaps we should just go back under the ruling of England... July 4th would be an execellent time to understand what the founding fathers were trying to accomplish with the Declaration of Independence. I'll let you stick your nose a little higher into the air just so that you can say the you've abridged my first ammendment right... because no matter the opinion I share, you will find some reason to knock it down; making the 6th more meaningful.

Yes, I agree. you should build a fence around the city. or a wall. like the Berlin wall. I was referring to the financial fencing at the city's borders and the decrease in population by people moving out of the city still on Buffalo's payroll.

[Unregistered]

It's reassuring to know that with the control board taking over soon, we can disregard any incoherant ramblings, like some of the posts seen here. Time for the business community to step in and clean things up.

[Political Poet]

Why not add another tax to the pile?
And soon people will be taxed for their smile.

Taxes to the water, taxes on the trash
Let’s not stop there; Buffalo is much too brash.

Enforcing a tax is much too easy,
Let’s just call on Mother England to tax our tea.

Tax the commuters’ cuz they live in another town
Might as well tax the people when they want to frown.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
It's reassuring to know that with the control board taking over soon, we can disregard any incoherant ramblings, like some of the posts seen here. Time for the business community to step in and clean things up.


I most certainly hope we don't argue back and forth over opinion here people..

I hope the control board has power though. These are good business people. We don't need more smoke and mirrors. I wish this control board had some power over the county. We shouldn't have waste anywhere. We can't just yell at the gang of buffalo when the gang of the county get away with crap too.. SAme as with the gang in cheektowaga, amherst, lancaster, etc etc etc..

They better all be watching seeing we are wathing taxes rise and budgets rising.

[Unregistered]

Who is the idiot that thinks Cheektowaga, Lancaster, Amherst has the same issues as Buffalo. Just because Buffalo might be in a spiral decline doesn't mean the surrounding towns are.

The people that live in those towns make more than enough money to support thier over paid, wasteful speanding, overtime abusing workers and patronage workers. The developers will make sure we have places to work! Do you know the openings we are going to have for traffic managment pretty soon?

You don't see in Buffalo developers building donut shops, subways, malls, strip plazas and nice big empty buildings. We will have LOTS of minimum wage jobs to help support are local goverments.

Plus look, we do so well in our burbs that we can afford to give away the best building plots and NOT even charge them full property taxes! We do not mind subsidizing the new businesses. Just the hope that they will hire more people is good enough for me!

And you know what? the residents don't even mind when we build a shopping complex right next to thier homes! They realize that they can walk right across thier yard and shop! The money they save on gas offsets the tax that isn't collected from the developers for expanding and building.

They even save electric seeing the parking lot lights help light up thier yards! Who can ask for anything more?

:)

[Unregistered]

It is appropriate for you to restrict development and economic opportunity now that you have "gotten yours" and live quietly in the suburbs. Perhaps that os one of the reasons why so many young people are leaving the region. You seem to have a bad case of NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard. There is an excellent and perfectly legal way to restrict development around your home - buy a very large parcel of land and build a house on it!
It amazes me how western new yorkers think nothing of telling other people what they can and cannot do with their property.

[WNYresident]

Some of the issue of not in my back yard though hold some truth. IF you have 200 homes that do not want thier traffic on thier street to be increased from a delta sonic built on a corner I can't blame them. Specially where there's so much land in the city that can be redeveloped.

I used to think it was great watching Union road build up and how it would bring more people to my businesss. BOY was I wrong.

I now get people that do not like to drive down union to get to my companies. Then we were told how this developemnt would keep taxes in check etc or even lower them! Well then why are my taxes going up?

YOu know why? THe developers make there money by building, the town boards want thier jobs along with thier favors and over all the resident pays for it. Just look at who contributes to thier campaigns, mostly unions and developers. They like have thier permits rubberstamped like it's going out of style.

If the quality of life is going to be lowered seeing the developers want to pave everything, then the residents need something in return. Having a video rental store or gas station on every corner isn't a perk, low taxes would be perk.

I pay about $4000 a year in property taxes to have my garbage picked up, police protection which i have used 4 times in my life i think, and 90 foot X 15 foot piece of road plowed.

I pay a water bill, a gas bill, an electric bill, i pay a DMV bill, I pay for permits. Anytime you go to the town clerks office theres a fee attached to just about everything. What other services am i getting? I would like to know where ALL the money goes.

I'm not one that likes to pay for other peoples services so i think the hand outs have to stop.

You can't afford gas? the leave NYS seeing we have cold winters and move to another state that doesn't need a lot of gas to heat your home. You complain you can't find a job then please leave too, I have a job and don't want to support your ass until you find one to your liking.

THe only people I don't mind seeing my money go to are the disabled, the elderly to a point and kids under 18 if they have parental problems. If you are on some form of handout you should sweep streets.

I dont have kids so im not thrilled in supporting the school districts either. They should have a limit. WHen you are finally like 50 you don't pay school taxes anymore. If a developer elects to build 500 homes the increase of schooling should be on developer not people already in the community.

WHy should anyone on a retirement fix income have the burden of high school taxes? They have contributed long enough. I have no kids but over the last 5 years seen about $10,000 ($2000 a year i think) be charge to me as school taxes. Thats a lot of money. Everyone should contribute to society but you get to the point of it not being worth it.

It's all lies and money. It's a puppet show in each town. THe developers should focus inward but they won't seeing the land outwards is cheaper. Notice the planning boards are appointed by the ones that profit from the planning? Planning boards should be 1/2 residents/1/2 business leaders NOT the developers.

You still have some form of moral obligation not to ruin the area.

[Unregistered]

"You complain you can't find a job then please leave too, I have a job and don't want to support your ass until you find one to your liking. ".....
I don't think you need to state the obvious - the census will gladly tell you the region had just about the highest rate of exodus in the nation from 1990 - 2000. You have to wonder just WHO is leaving though... It is the crackheads and alcoholics? The lazy and irresponsible? No, they just lay around all day, consuming what they can -aimless in life. I'd suggest that the people who leave are PRECISCLY the people you do not want to leave: the young, the ambitious, the educated. The future breadwinners, property owners, taxpayers, leaders of tommorow. Western New York is suffering a seroius brain drain. I wonder what percentage of SUNY graduates leave the region as compared to other public universities nationwide. I'd suggest that the state is investing in young people that they will never see a return on, because they leave and use their talents to enrich other regions of the country.
So be careful what you wish for. You may find yourself retired and surrounded by a younger genreation of idiots who DIDN'T have the common sense to realize they were getting taken advantage of, and who certianly will not support you in your dotage. Or, you can pack your bags for Boca Raton so you can spend more time with your grandkids.