We can't fix the problem with an income tax.
- Paul S.

The supporters of higher income taxes sometimes play fast and loose with the facts. So here are the facts they aren't telling you.

Mayor Schreiber doesn't have facts correct about the Ypsilanti City Income Tax

(October 12, 2007) Mayor Paul Schreiber, in a recent letter to the editor, accuses the Stop City Income Tax campaign of not having our facts correct. It is Mayor Schreiber that doesn't have his facts correct.

Schreiber is saying he can't find where he said the Ypsilanti City Income Tax was a 35% increase in taxes. It is on page 10 of his 12 page report he wrote and presented to the Ypsilanti City Council dated November 14, 2005. The report detailed his analysis of the effects of a City Income Tax on the citizens of Ypsilanti.

Here is the graph from page 10 from the Schreiber Report. The hand written notes are ours showing how the calculation was made.

The Mayor clearly shows in his report and graphs that a City Income Tax as well as City Property Tax ( i.e. city taxes) would increase from $1,028 per household to $1,396 per household. That is a 35.8% increase in taxes. As you can see, we were generous by rounding down when we said the Farmer/Schreiber City Income Tax plan is a 35% increase for taxpayers in Ypsilanti.

Mayor Schreiber goes on to say in the very same report, "Ypsilanti residents would pay a relatively high percentage of their income for taxes compared to other cities." We couldn't agree with the mayor more.

At a time of skyrocketing water bills and gas prices and now an almost 1/2% increase in state income taxes (which is itself an 11.5% increase in state taxes), Schreiber's 1% City Income Tax plan amounts to a 35% jump in the taxes citizens pay to Ypsilanti.

Schreiber simply doesn't have his facts correct. Mayor Schreiber's own analysis of the City Income Tax confirms what we have said all along. The City Income Tax is a huge jump in taxes for Ypsilanti. The City Income Tax is bad news for the residents and businesses of Ypsilanti already struggling to pay the highest property taxes and special assessments in the County.