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You have to hand it to the Tucson City Council – at least they want to appear to care whether you want your taxes increased. The Mayor and Tucson City Council voted on Tuesday to spend between $10,000-$20,000 to find out if residents want a tax increase.
The Council plans to hire an outside pollster to survey Tucson residents about whether they would support a half-cent city sales tax increase. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said the poll would be spendy, but he said outside groups may be willing to pay the costs.
While the half-cent sales tax increase would bring in about $50 million a year to the City but hit the poorest residents on a daily basis. An increase must be approved by voters. The tax hike would bring the city rate to 2.5 percent, matching Oro Valley which just increased its taxes to subsidize golfers.
Due to very poor management, Tucson faces a $40 million deficit during the next fiscal year, and bankruptcy. City Manager Michael Ortega recently introduced several proposals to bring a structural balance to the City’s operational spending plan over the next two fiscal years, but those measures are little more than a bandaid. In addition to spending cuts, a sales tax increase was among the items proposed to bail out the City.