On March 15, 2024, D.C. Policy Center Executive Director Yesim Sayin was quoted by Marketplace:
“A lot of people have moved out of the region because it’s high cost — expensive — realizing that they can work for the federal government and not necessarily be in the region,” explained Yesim Sayin, head of the D.C. Policy Center think tank.
The federal government has always been decentralized, Sayin added, with most federal workers outside D.C. The pandemic turbocharged that, which hurt the city’s bottom line.
“That’s affecting city revenues, that’s affecting Metro,” Sayin said.
Sayin estimates that federal workers spend an average of $167 per week when they’re in D.C. And even if half of them were actually coming into the office, the city would still be out millions of dollars a year in sales taxes.
Read More: The shrinking federal government — in D.C.
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