The Truth about City Taxes

American Greetings may move out of town and it's the residents fault.

The nation's largest publicly held greeting card manufacturer, is launching a study to determine whether they should move the company's world headquarters from the city of Brooklyn Ohio.

Reason: residents voted to raise the city's payroll tax 25%.

Cities or incorporated communities may levy city taxes. A taxpayer is usually responsible for TWO types of city taxes:

• Employment Tax – to cities where the taxpayer is employed or conducts business
• Residence Tax – to city where the taxpayer lived when income was earned

The city tax rate is determined by the local politicians and approved by voters in the community. Residents of Brooklyn, Ohio last spring voted to raise the city's tax rate to 2.5 percent of wages from 2.0 percent.

Moral of the story: residents have no reason to complain about their high city tax rates because it's the residents who control them. Reject tax increase proposals on Election Day. Even better: vote against council members and mayors who propose income tax hikes. The effects of a large company moving out of the city could be devastating. Just ask the Brooklyn City Schools.