This would equally hit people who operate any small business, even as a
part-timer, out of their homes -- assuming they have registered for the
Business Privilege Tax and are paying their Gross Receipts Tax.
I understand the rationale behind this proposed new revenue tool. But
another strategy for soaking more revenue out of city businesses could
be to tickle more people out of the "gray market" with enticements to go
legal.
Smacking such small-business people at once with a mandatory $500 fee
for trash most of them don't even generate, probably isn't the right way
to crack open this particular barrel of businesses.
-- Tony West
The latest such fee is a $500 charge the city wants to put on all
small buildings with commercial occupancies for trash pickup. People
who generate large volumes of waste -- restaurants and the like --
already have to have private trash pickup. This will hit people like
barbers, accountants, dentists, realtors, property managers,
consultants, plumbers, electricians, small retailers, and so forth.
The people who want to assess these fees say things like "It's only
$500 per year, under $10 per week. It won't hurt anybody." Sorry to
break the news, but it will hurt. Do you think someone who rents a
storefront wants his or her rent raised by $40 per month to cover this
fee when the property owner passes it along? That's a 5% or 10%
increase for many people.
What's worse, it's a one-size-fits-all approach proposed by the
Streets Dept which obviously pulled the number out of a hat and didn't
give it a second thought. A barber who generates -- what -- two
Acme-sized bags of hair clippings a week is going to pay the same as a
variety store owner who generates two or three barrel-sized bags a
week? It makes no sense.
Al Krigman
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