The Fishers Town Council is considering enacting a new 1% tax on food and beverage sold in Fishers. The reason given is to raise about $1 million a year for economic development.
However, this is already raising controversy. Fishers apparently asked the General Assembly to give them this power, leaving open who is behind this and why. Fishers proposed budget for next year is about $80 million. The Fishers Chamber of Commerce is saying they support this, but some local bar and restaurant owners are not happy. And Town Council member and announced Mayoral candidate Renee Cox has issued a statement today that she opposes adoption of this tax. The other two candidates for Mayor are not known to have issued any public statements yet.
There will be a public hearing devoted to just this issue next Tuesday night, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. in Town Hall. Any resident of Fishers may attend and be heard.
While I have not made a final decision on this myself, I tend to be opposed. Frankly, I have not heard a good rationale for this tax. There are no details at all about how this would be spent. Would it end up being a slush fund for whatever the Town/City government wants? And who decided to ask the state legislature for this special authority in the first place?
Details, details, the devil is in the details. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Some citizens of Fishers are on a fixed income. We do not need another tax. Taxes on eating out are already too high.
ReplyDelete