Featured Image
Photo/Ted Eytan. Used with permission.

DC Council sidesteps financial responsibility | The DC Line

May 30, 2019
  • D.C. Policy Center

On May 30, 2019, D.C. Policy Center Executive Director Yesim Sayin Taylor was quoted in a The DC Line commentary on the 2019 D.C. budget:

“That was just a distraction, however. Legislators didn’t address the fundamental problems with Bowser’s 2020 budget proposal. They supported her decision to increase taxes in a budget document without providing any real opportunity for residents and businesses to weigh in through a public hearing focused on just that issue. They failed to block Bowser’s hike of the  deed and recordation taxes on the sale of commercial property. What’s more, they supported the mayor’s backdoor veto of legislation previously approved by the council to decrease the tax rate on commercial property. If that were not enough, council members levied a tax of their own; they raised from 7 percent to 8 percent the sales tax on sodas and other sugary drinks.

“Relying on short-term revenue fixes to pay for spending increases doesn’t bode well for fair and competitive tax policy,” Yesim Sayin Taylor, executive director of the DC Policy Center, wrote in a commentary published by The DC Line.”

Read more: DC Council sidesteps financial responsibility | The DC Line

Related: DC’s budget is growing at a faster pace than economic fundamentals can support

Author

D.C. Policy Center


Established in 2016, the D.C. Policy Center is a non-partisan research and policy organization committed to advancing policies for a strong and vibrant economy in the District of Columbia. Through rigorous research and collaboration, the D.C. Policy Center develops and tests policy ideas, disseminates its findings, and engages in constructive dialogue and debate.

For more information, please see our About page.