The Observation Deck

OK kiddies, we are within one week of the vote.
It's time for some fearless predictions!

Will the sin tax pass or fail, and by what margin?

I predict it will fail 51-49.

The "pro" side has run a totally horrendous campaign.
For example, the election date is not even featured on their website.
They are also failing to exploit the fact that big tobacco and alcohol are lobbying against it.

Michael Deneen wrote:The "pro" side has run a totally horrendous campaign.

Mike,

Do you think the "pro" side actually wants it to fail?

Matt

Matthew John Markling wrote:Mike,

Do you think the "pro" side actually wants it to fail?

No, not at all.
They have just made a lot of terrible decisions.

My guess, it will pass, say maybe 53-47. Tax measures are designed to pass. Way less than 50% of folks smoke or drink to an extent that they care, and some don't vote anyway. Plus like other tax issues it's on the May (not November) ballot. And the lies ("It's not a tax increase....") are pretty convincing. They did their homework.

I could be wrong but I doubt it....

Why do you call it a lie? There is no tax increase on this issue at all.

Bill Burnett wrote:Why do you call it a lie? There is no tax increase on this issue at all.

It's a fine line. The sin tax is a temporary tax set to expire. It will expire and be replaced by a new tax. The original promise was that the sin tax was to be used to pay for construction costs and debt and then would expire. The debt is still there and the construction costs have not been fully paid.

The sin tax will raise about $225 million dollars. Seems like a pretty big subsidy to me.

The sin tax will pass. We have pretty much reached the point of no return. No matter how much damage the subsidy culture does to this town the people will support it because they can't imagine another way.

In that environment it is the duty of every citizen and every business to seek their own subsidy. It's going to be so cool.

First we will be Argentina
Then we will be Venezuela
Then we will be Zimbabwe

It will take time but the end is clear.

Which business is the economic engine; the business that pays the subsidy or the business that needs the subsidy to survive?

If you owned one business that ate all the cash and another business that generated all the cash which business would you keep?

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have spent about $500,000 for each new downtown resident. Is that wise? If we spent a similar amount in Lakewood we would have spent $25 billion.

What would provide a better return a $25 million pedestrian bridge as part of another $75 million for Mall C and public square improvements or $5 million for an elevated bikeway through Lakewood extending to downtown and beyond?

Don't work, save, invest or take a risk! Just get in line! Economics for idiots! Hmmm, nice title for a book.

It’s not a “fine line” at all. It’s a tax increase and those who say it isn’t are liars.

If the so-called sin tax that is expiring was replaced, say, by a .25% sales tax (the way the convention center was subsidized), nobody would assert that the sales tax was not a tax increase. Well, the current sin tax is expiring and another sin-tax is about to be enacted. And just because the current sin tax is being replaced by another sin tax, so what! It’s still an increase, just like a new sales tax would be. If it does not pass, taxes go down. So how is it not an increase? And if it’s not an increase then why are we even being asked to vote on it?

Well you know what they say, there’s nothing as permanent as a temporary tax….

This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel, railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing that could ever be considered with the term “value added.” Almost everyone discusses this “enterprise” as though it is the same thing as industry {which it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those who can afford it to pay those who don’t need it. If this isn’t a transfer of wealth I don’t know what is.

The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to “sin”} but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time {under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this time...not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the proponents on this one and we don't care if the teams up and go somewhere else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Don’t ever let it be said that this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced. Let the battle be joined.

And now to the real underlying issue at hand:

One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers. Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host, team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted, they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and tribulations as did the jesters in the king's court during the middle ages. But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable. They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?

Our society is also subjected to the "profound wisdom" of these people because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed, clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.

The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment above everything else; isn't it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.

Unfortunately it looks like I will keep paying more to drink beer outside of the stadiums just to have the right to pay $9 per beer inside the stadiums to watch teams that continually lose...

I say quadruple the tax on cigarettes! Even more than that if possible.

Corey

Corey Rossen wrote:I say quadruple the tax on cigarettes! Even more than that if possible.

Corey

The Governor is way ahead of you...but that's another topic.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories ... o-tax.html

[quote="Tim Liston"]It’s not a “fine line” at all. It’s a tax increase and those who say it isn’t are liars.


Right now you pay a tax of 1.5 cents per beer. If the issue passes you will pay a tax of 1.5 cents per beer.
1.5 cents = 1.5 cents. Explain how this is a tax increase

I predict Issue 7 will pass-----53%

Stan Austin

Fail: 51% to 49% (and maybe even closer than that)

55%-45% in favor