The newly elected governor of the State of Rhode Island; Lincoln Chafee, has proposed the tax structure in this state be changed to reflect current consumer spending trends. To sum it up quickly: the tax rate will fall in this state from 7% to 6% - but everything that was previously not subject to sales tax will now be taxed (labor and services will be subject to sales tax). My project is to research and present findings on the following: What is the history of the sales tax? What are the reasons put forth by the governor as to why this change has to happen? Interview and present findings from two groups affected: taxi drivers in a predominently tourist area already adversely affected by the economic downturn, and local elected officials with a tourist-based business subject to some part of the new tax structure.
I would like to contrast the two viewpoints. They may be similar or completely opposite. My goal is to inform people of the possible upcoming changes. Does anyone have a different angle to approach this from? I do not want to get too personal with financial questions, such as asking how much someone makes. However I was thinking of asking for percentages of business lost or gained in the past few seasons.
This is a great topic for an academic argument because it is easily related to a wide number of individuals. While, it may be limited to those who travel to Rhode Island or live there it still serves a purpose of finding more information about the tax decrease. It will be interesting to find out more about the details of the tax decrease and how it will affect the indivduals living in Rhode Island.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like it would intensely affect businesses that weren't taxed before on their services. How are businesses supposed to thrive in this economy and now with more taxes? Citizens are already stressed with financial problems as it is.
ReplyDeleteAfter speaking to people with small businesses, it seems that no one is in favor of this new tax proposal. The left-leaning people want the governor to tax the wealthier more and the right-leaning people want the state to cut their spending. No surprise there. Both sides seem to look at the governor's proposal as "if it moves, it will be taxed". Just a little humor to look at the new tax structure with when you realize what this means for labor and service related businesses.
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