KALAMAZOO (WKZO)– Kalamazoo’s Blue Ribbon Revenue Task force got a detailed report on how a hypothetical income tax would impact taxpayers and the results shows there would clearly be winners and losers, but it would cover the gap in the city’s funding shortfall.
Randy Eberts at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research put together the complicated analysis.
Some city homeowners would actually pay less money to the city, If Kalamazoo was to start charging the tens of thousands of people who work in Kalamazoo, but live elsewhere a .5% income tax.
Among the likely losers would be renters, residents on the low end of the income scale and homeowners will really big incomes.
A lot depends on exactly how the city structured the tax. There are ways to design it so that more residents come out ahead.
Committee members asked for scenarios of typical homeowners and where they would stand, to better understand the impacts.
In the meantime, the committee plans to look at other possible revenue ideas at future meetings.
