Economic Recovery Needs to Start at The Local Level First
by A short article about the need for local communities to help in growing the economy by offering incentives to new business rather than raising taxes.
Most communities cannot afford to raise taxes, especially in light of the national economy and the current lack of job prospects. Like federal and state governments, local communities also need to learn to live within their means. As individuals, we are expected to live within our financial means. If we don’t have enough money, we have to either scale back on our spending or earn more money. The same needs to apply to municipal governments as well. New jobs bring in more revenue — new taxes ultimately do just the opposite.
What most communities need is jobs rather than higher taxes. Jobs offer many avenues for revenue for the community. The more jobs a community has, the more revenue the local government gets. Yet, communities are often divided over the issue. There are people fighting large companies like Walmart tooth and nail from coming into their communities. We also have people fighting federally funded community improvement projects and infrastructure maintenance projects. These are desperately needed jobs and improvements needed by the community to survive and thrive.
Communities across the nation are losing businesses and for every business they lose, more American jobs are lost. This last couple of years, many communities have lost large retail stores, factories and other businesses that had previously employed millions of American workers. Many of these communities are not attracting new businesses because they are wanting impact fees and other forms of hidden taxes. Because many communities are failing to become more fiscally attractive to new business, they are not creating new jobs. Many of these jobs are going over seas.
Because many of these communities are losings jobs and not attracting new companies, they are not growing the economy. Local government leaders need to focus, not on raising taxes, but rather on attracting new businesses that will provide jobs and revenue. We cannot all rely on the federal government to bail us out of the current economic crisis. Local communities need to focus their sights on becoming attractive to new business if we are going to have a meaningful and fiscally viable future.
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