O'Brien: City Needs Single Tax Rate
In his brief remarks to approximately 150 gathered local business owners at the Beechwood Hotel, O’Brien came out strongly in favor of creating a single tax rate for the city, saying it’s the only way Worcester can be competitive in the global marketplace.
Split Personality
Currently, the city has a dual tax rate, one for residential home owners and one for business owners. The rate for businesses is more than double the rate for residential property owners.
However, O’Brien cautioned that the single tax rate could not be constructed “in a vacuum” and that it would have to be phased in and tied to “benchmarks” based on the city’s economic performance.
Mayor Konstantina Lukes also spoke at the event, which served as a kick-off for Worcester Local First’s business directory.
Worcester Local First, which aims at encouraging people to buy from independently owned Worcester businesses rather than chain stories, hopes to put out a directory of at least 150 member businesses by June.
BALLE, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a national collaborative that educates communities on all areas of sustainability, created the Local First campaign in 2001. Since then, BALLE has spawned more than 50 independent community networks across the country, including four in Massachusetts: Cambridge Local First, Roslindale Local First, The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston and The Pioneer Valley Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.
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