Lincoln is $1.4 million short in sales tax receipts this year. That's bad news considering the conservative projection used this year. Where has the money gone?
Some will blame the smoking ban. It's an easy scapegoat, and there really isn't a good way to disprove it as the cause, especially since it will be quite a while before the tax receipts are broken down by industry. I think that's bogus, though. Outside of a few bars, anecdotal reports just don't support the notion that the smoking ban has had a widespread, large-scale negative economic effect. (Granted, anecdotes can only be taken so far, but they're all I have to go with right now.) You can't blame a declining population since Lincoln is growing. The housing market has cooled, but that was expected, wasn't it? Surely anybody making projections didn't assume the housing boom would last forever. Lincoln's residents could be getting poorer, I suppose. Is there any evidence for that?
Got any other suggestions?
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See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
the war on christmas and easter?
I blame bird flu. And the terrorists.
I don’t know about Lincoln or Nebraska, but our household has been in a recession for about a year now. Increasing expenses and income that doesn’t keep pace.
We’ve tightened our belt and I suspect others are doing the same. If we get our house sold we’ll be helping out the slumping sales tax revenue.
I keep talking to more and more people who are internet shopping for things that could be bought locally (though at a higher price). I can’t say I’m not guilty of that as well.
We’ve been cutting back our spending quite a bit as well. Jobs are still tight here, I know a few people that have been un and under employed going on two and three years now.
Theoretically you’re supposed to declare those out of state internet purchases on your yearly taxes and the state is supposed to divide it up from there. If the IRS really wanted to hammer it, they probably could, though sometimes the difference between online pricing and instate is indicitive of overly high taxes here or a badly run business that fails to compete.
Ahhh, more good news. As if watching my 401 and IRA getting beat down isn’t enough…
Anecdotally, I also decrease spending the first quarter of the year for obvious reasons: 1) Recovery from the holiday season and associated travel; and 2) Taxes.
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