http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-881197.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – With an eastern Missouri millionaire contributing a half-million dollars to a campaign to end earnings taxes, Kansas City's city council is the threat to revenues seriously.
Council Finance and Audit chair Deb Hermann says it's not that City Hall is in love with the idea of an earnings tax, but that the tax contributes $200 million a year toward paying the city's bills. She says, "loss of that revenue without something in place ahead of time to replace it would be devastating."
That's the scenario most council members fear. The tax voted out and nothing to replace it.
Hermann's committee directed the city manager to gather ammunition to fight e-tax repeal - information on the city's revenue picture - the sources, amounts, and the processes and time lines that would be involved to develop and pass a new tax structure to support the city government.