they shouldn't have to pay property taxes or pay for parking garages. i mean, most of their property is parking lots, right? you know, those spots where those houses used to be.

those spots where houses used to be...that people used to pay taxes on?

I'd like to see an investigation into their "non-profit" status...paging Melanie Ford...

any motherfucker that makes over a mil a year has no right telling me that i (we...the taxpayer citizens) have to pay for his ramp.

I think you'd be surprised at how many huge businesses don't pay property taxes, or pay tiny amounts over a bazillion years. The city council loves to grant those kinds of favors in the name of "economic development."

This whole "tax-evasion" ploy makes me sick ... no wonder the city is broke!

The city would be rolling in $$ if it ENFORCED CURRENT LAWS and FINED the people who are trashing our neighborhoods

This city should welcome and encourage all the economic develpoment it can get. I'd like to see more tax-evading employers around here. The mayor's comments seem, to me, an attempt to manipulate public opinion, and judging by these posts, it worked. Sheep.

Hey, I own a business how can I sign up for this tax free scheme?
Sheesh, talk about sheep, i guess it's normal to expect to let businesses out of their responsibility just so they can provide jobs, er actually read, make more profit. Profit is good, profit is nice, but profit at the expense of social responsibility is not so nice. This is corporate welfare. And if you dare, to rail against welfare for individuals you should scream bloody murder at welfare for corporations. It is not as if SMDC would stop making money if they paid property taxes, just less of it. Hell, health care is so damn expensive I imagine smdc is rolling in the dough. I had a two night stay, minor operation at a local hospital and the bill came to 18 thousand dollars.

It's also not as if SMDC or any service based business can pick up and move to China if the city plays hardball with them.

As their neighbor I would be estatic to see them move to, say Hermantown.

I too am an SMDC neighbor, and have been upset with them on more than one occassion. DonB is right on - it's time the Council flexed some muscle - it's not as though the hospital is going anywhere. No property taxes, one-ways converted, free parking ramps...where does it end?!?

endonian:

please define "trashing our neighborhoods." do you mean "having junk and trash in their yards" or what?

Ya can't get blood form a turnip. though you can get lots of blood from a tick, however...and SMDC seems to be a huge one stuck to the ass of the city.

the kind of revenue it sounds like you're referring to is chump change compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax money Duluth is missing out on...parking tickets? bad landlords? overgrown lawn? please.

It really is the ultimate business move. Skip paying taxes, make craploads of money, Rinse, Repeat!

I think that a lot of SMDC people park on the street. It is probably the reason why there are now meters on 2nd street between 6th and 9th.

It is in effect a business and they should be paying all of their proper taxes. If they are lured to pull up the tax base why are they not paying taxes? When they do shore up the general taxes of the city and county they can just entertain other offers of cities to provide millions of dollars for parking ramps that they may never need.

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point:

The city should have never built that ramp. It just doesn't make business sense.

It is as ridiculous as if the city built a solar panel factory and then made laws for all new houses to have a percentage of their power from renewable energy and give rebates to citizens who do not.

Why is that so ridiculous?

"Skip paying taxes, make craploads of money, Rinse, Repeat!"
Wait, I thought we were talking about SMDC...not Halliburton...just kidding. not.

point...the city got played...

"We got hosed, Timmy. We got hosed."

By melonhead's assertion, we should just ignore the situation...as SMDC's a poor helpless business just trying to make a buck in a dog eat dog world, and we're just a bunch of jackals trying to prevent that from happening.

See, right now, SMDC is making more money than I make in a month in the time it takes to type this out.

For a faith-based organization, their actions don't seem very...christ like. I would say Christian but...christianity these days seems to be all about increasing your own status and wealth...that way you'll have more of it when you get to heaven. Poor folk be damned. If they're not rich, well, then they're not good enough christians.

Hey, here's a wild idea. Make them treat everyone, regardless of whether they can pay or not. Then maybe we can consider SMDC, at least in spirit, "non-profit" (though I'm sure they'd still make plenty of it from the wealthier among us). I, for one, have no health insurance. Therefore, I am not likely to show up at SMDC unless I manage to do something involving having a few hours to live otherwise. It's totally, absolutely disgusting and appalling that this, the wealthiest country in the world, is also the only developed nation without free public health care. Talk about companies not pulling their weight of social responsibility! The fucks don't care if I die on the street if I don't got insurance or cash-on-hand. (And no, with part-time, non-union employment, I can't afford to purchase health insurance of any kind).

I say tax the screwballs as much as it takes to pay for the doctor and hospital visits of every uninsured person in the Twin Ports.

Hey, here's a wild idea. Make them treat everyone, regardless of whether they can pay or not. Then maybe we can consider SMDC, at least in spirit, "non-profit" (though I'm sure they'd still make plenty of it from the wealthier among us). I, for one, have no health insurance. Therefore, I am not likely to show up at SMDC unless I manage to do something involving having a few hours to live otherwise. It's totally, absolutely disgusting and appalling that this, the wealthiest country in the world, is also the only developed nation without free public health care. Talk about companies not pulling their weight of social responsibility! The fucks don't care if I die on the street if I don't got insurance or cash-on-hand. (And no, with part-time, non-union employment, I can't afford to purchase health insurance of any kind).

I say tax the screwballs as much as it takes to pay for the doctor and hospital visits of every uninsured person in the Twin Ports, at the average number of visits per year of those who ARE insured.

Hey, here's a wild idea. Make them treat everyone, regardless of whether they can pay or not. Then maybe we can consider SMDC, at least in spirit, "non-profit" (though I'm sure they'd still make plenty of it from the wealthier among us). I, for one, have no health insurance. Therefore, I am not likely to show up at SMDC unless I manage to do something involving having a few hours to live otherwise. It's totally, absolutely disgusting and appalling that this, the wealthiest country in the world, is also the only developed nation without free public health care. Talk about companies not pulling their weight of social responsibility! The fucks don't care if I die on the street if I don't got insurance or cash-on-hand. (And no, with part-time, non-union employment, I can't afford to purchase health insurance of any kind).

I say tax the screwballs as much as it takes to pay for the doctor and hospital visits of every uninsured person in the Twin Ports, at the average amount per person spent by those who ARE insured.