Ladies and Gentlemen of the Council

I may try to get to the council meeting tonight to speak in favor of the proposal to apply an additional local tax to restaurant and B&B bills. However, it's tough to get out of the house with soccer/meal/bedtime so we'll see what happens.

This is approximately what I will/would say.

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I'm here to speak in favor of the proposed addition of local meals and lodging taxes in Newburyport.

I concede this is a lousy time to talk new taxes. People are struggling financially, trying to make ends meet. The economy is officially out of its recession but you'll have a hard time seeing evidence of that these days.

However, this proposals goes beyond just raising new revenue. The addition of these two taxes can be the beginning of a shift in how this city raises taxes, a move away from relying almost exclusively on property taxes.

In fact, I'd argue that these taxes present a fairer way of generating revenue for the city. Newburyport is a destination city drawing people from all over to our sidewalks, boardwalks and restaurants. That identity is only going to grow in the coming years as Steve Karp develops the parcels downtown

That development is only going to draw more cars to our streets, people to our sidewalks and customers to our restaurants and hotels. I don't have a problem with that. In fact, I think it's great for the economic viability of the city. But these developments will come at a cost, both financial and actual in the form of more traffic.


As a resident of the city I'd like to see us be in a position to benefit from this growth in business. Yes, we'll see an increase in property taxes when these projects are built out but one could argue that will hardly cover the services these new buildings will require.

But a small tax added to every restaurant and hotel bill gives the people of this city a bigger stake in the financial success of downtown. As more people come into the city to dine and stay, more money will come back to the city in form of taxes.

Furthermore, these taxes will spread a bit of the burden of this congestion to the very people causing it, the visitors. Yes, Newburyport residents also eat in city restaurants, but the vast majority of local eateries wouldn't be able to survive without visitors to the city so I think it's safe to say those from outside the city will pay a decent share of the new taxes.

And I completely support the idea of dedicating any new revenue toward maintaining the downtown or going toward other infrastructure projects that will benefit the businesses who are charging the taxes.

In closing, we need to move away from the model of relying only on homeowners and property owners for taxes. These measures simply ask those who are visiting our city to share a bit of the responsbility of keeping it the beautiful place that it is.

UPDATE: I never made it to the meeting, but the matters were referred to budget and finance committee.