New - The Untold Story of the New Maps Tax
Can I Vote NO on Tuesday, December 8? Download OKC Ward Map to see.
Many people who live in Oklahoma City have mailing addresses in Edmond, Moore, Yukon and other communities. So check the map to see. If you pay for Oklahoma City water and or trash collection, you are probably eligible.
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Download "Top 10 Reasons to Kill the Maps Tax" Flyer
Not This Maps Not This Maps Coalition Facebook Group Mark Shannon Bob Waldrop Video the Maps "Yes Sirs!" Don't Want You to See
Did you know Oklahoma City is short 200 police officers? It shows in the Crime Statistics. Yet our City Council wants to build $25 million kayaking attractions, $50 million worth of indoor swimming pools, and a new $280 million Convention Center. Take care of business before you tax the people to pad the pockets of the OKC Elite.
Background:
The Oklahoma City Elite unveiled MAPS3 in September to “continue the momentum” of the other MAPS projects. The “momentum” they want to maintain is to make a “temporary” sales tax increase permanent while they feather the nests of downtown real estate developers.
This is the wrong project at the wrong time. The US economy is sinking into a prolonged recession or even depression. As good as Oklahoma's economy is, we are being pulled down with the national economy. Oklahoma City and State tax collections are down, as unemployment, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still increasing. A recent report from OSU expects little or no growth in 2010 and more job losses in a “jobless recovery.”
What Oklahomans need right now is an economic stimulus in the form of a tax cut. By letting the MAPS tax expire on March 31, 2010, that's what we'll get. The typical family of four in OKC should have another $500 a year to spend on food, clothing, shelter, or even recreation.
From the outset the MAPS3 campaign has been based on deception, unrealistic projections and magical thinking.
For starters, MAPS3 really is a sales tax increase. Proponents maintain that extending a temporary tax that is set to expire is not an increase. On April 1st OKC's sales tax is scheduled to fall to 3.875 %. If MAPS3 passes, it will rise back to 4.875 %. (That's on top of 4% for the State, making a total of 8.875 % on each dollar we spend.)
Following up with more deceit, this is really not MAPS3. It is MAPS4. Or did we forget that after MAPS and MAPS for Kids, we had MAPS for Millionaires? Voters extended the MAPS tax for another 15 months to try to raise $120 million to subsidize the local ownership group to bring the Thunder to OKC from Seattle. Guess what? As the millionaire owners benefit financially as the value of the Thunder appreciates, Oklahoma City gets no share for their subsidy to bring them here. Nice work if you can get it.
Maps3 (really Maps4) should actually be called "MAPS for Downtown Real Estate Developers."
Revenue projections of $777 million over 93 months are unrealistic. To meet this goal annual sales tax collections must equal $100 million. OKC's previous high collections on 1-cent were $92.5 million. Current collections are falling much farther behind than that figure. So all the projects being used to sell the package can in no way be funded. For Maps3 proponents to continue to tout this figure is fraudulent at best.
The most unpopular project among Oklahoma Cityans is the proposed new convention center to replace the newly renovated Cox Center. While the proposal is for a mere $280 million now, it will take an additional $250 million to finish it as planners would like.
Moreover, the entire argument of using the "build it and they will come" model of more convention facilities to grow the city is suspect and based on magical thinking that is out of touch with economic and technological reality. See the articles by Dr.Heywood Sanders in reason number 10 of the Top 10 Reasons to Vote Against Maps3.
Land for many of these projects will depend upon using immanent domain to confiscate private property from owners that may be unwilling at prices that are below market value. In a declining economy, this could impose severe hardships.
