Ryan Demro Fights Cuyahoga County Sales Tax Increase
from the Ryan Demro for Lakewood Mayor campaign:
Citing U.S. Census Bureau reports, Councilman Ryan Patrick Demro has placed a resolution on the docket of Lakewood City Council asking his colleagues to urge the Cuyahoga County Commissioners to reconsider the sales tax increase they intend to impose on Cuyahoga County residents.
“The Commissioners’ proposal has merit and could be an important step toward revitalizing our local economy. The construction of a Medical Mart and an accompanying convention center would allow our region to capitalize on the assets of our local medical industry; however, the finance mechanism is fatally flawed.” Demro said.
The commissioners intend to fund this venture by increasing the sales tax from 7.5% to 7.75%, generating an estimated $42 million annually. Roughly half of these funds would go to pay for the construction of a new convention center; the remainder would be placed in the county’s general fund. “This tax will have a disproportionate effect on those in poverty. It is wrong to place another financial burden on our working poor and those receiving public assistance. Our local businesses and retail will also experience the negative impact of this tax. It is not only financially wrong, but it is morally wrong.” Demro said.
(According to the U.S. Census Bureau, The City of Cleveland is the poorest major city in America. Recent data reflects that poverty is also rising in Lakewood.)
The part of this proposal that is particularly inappropriate is the circumvention of the voter. Elected officials including Parma Mayor Dean DePiero and Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough have stated that they feel it is appropriate for voters to have input on this tax.
It is such a shame that the TEL is not in the state constitution to require that these sorts of tax hikes must be put before voters. I guess we can thank Jim Petro, the Republican establishment, and local government spendaholics for killing it- And I’d love to see a candidate bring the issue back.
issueman or a man with issues? said,
Wrote on July 2, 2007 @ 9:33 am
i know and like ryan. very smart young man. i hope that he meets with enormous success in his political career. however, being a staunch republican, i respectfully disagree with his statement for the following reasons:
1. it is true that poverty is rising in lakewood. the reason is not because of a loss of jobs, educational opportunities, failing businesses etc. or the local economy. it is because of the surge of section eight or “housing choice” residents that have recently flooded the area. this causes stable long-term residence of financial means to move out of the community. maybe his reasoning for the statement is to appeal to this constituency in the hopes of garnering the lions share of their vote in november.
2. a tax levied against the people without being put to a vote of the people seemingly contradicts their precious “home-rule” argument that they so steadfastly in defense of in all other points of contention (i.e. residency requirements, gun laws, traffic cameras etc, predatory lending etc.).
3. to tax our people who are already the highest taxed people in the state is wrong on it’s face. for this reason, and this reason alone, he should be against this increase. as we all know, reducing taxes equates to an increase in tax collections. this has been proven many times in American history. Even JFK understood this principle and Ronald Reagan then GWB proved it again. The more money people have in their pocket, the more they spend and stimulate the economy etc.
So, while I support Ryan, i would disagree with his message on this particular issue.
Matt Hurley said,
Wrote on July 2, 2007 @ 10:37 am
And we can thank Ken Blackwell for caving on the issue as well…
Joe C. said,
Wrote on July 2, 2007 @ 12:07 pm
Well, at least the Legis-TEL prevented the type of spending promised by Strickland and the OH legislature during the campaign. A fact that no one is mentioning as the gov., reps, and Media break their arms patting themselves on the back. Ken should at least get a little attaboy from the taxpayers despite his caving.