Thursday, May 24, 2012

Ticket Taxes Taxing Voters' Patience

Like I said before, no longer do I need to make my case, it's being made for me. Indications in the local media are that the City of Greensboro will use a tax of up to $3.oo per seat on ticket sales for venues with 2,800 to 4,000 seats to help pay for construction of the Greensboro Performing Arts Center. That is, if the State of North Carolina passes a bill approving the new tax.

Problem is: The City could have been doing that very thing for years but failed to do so. According to Amanda Lehmert of the News & Record:

"There is already a law that allows a city to levy a tax on tickets to venues over 10K seats. I believe this only applies to the Coliseum in Greensboro. The city does not, however, take advantage of this taxing ability."


In other words: "the city has failed to take advantage of a huge funding option it has had for years. Goes a long way towards instilling confidence, don't you think?"

But the problems don't end there. The proposed tax is on venues of 2,800 to 4,000 seats. This pretty much assures a Greensboro PAC will have at least 2800 seats even, if like many have suggested, 2800 seats might be too large for Greensboro.

When I was a kid I got 5 cents per week allowance except on weeks when I hadn't done my chores. With 5 cents I could buy bubblegum or by saving my allowance for several weeks I could buy a toy. Bubblegum was okay but toys lasted longer so I quickly learned to wait for my toys which were in fact my favorite toys because I got to buy exactly what I wanted. Perhaps it's time Greensboro's "leaders" learned how to save for what Greensboro wants and plan for our future instead of wasting it all on bubblegum and rotting our collective teeth?

Like I said, my points are being made for me.

Continue reading article #109. Put Up Or Shut Up.