Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is seeking to hike the city’s sales tax rate as a financing vehicle to fund his affordable housing goals.
The Denver Post reported the proposal would add an extra 0.5% to the city’s current effective 8.81% sales tax rate. Johnston, a Democrat, claimed this new tax would raise an estimated $100 million a year that would be used for affordable housing development, along with paying for more housing vouchers, bridge loans for construction projects and other housing initiatives.
“We are very focused on the outcomes we can deliver for Denver here,” said Johnston. “So, the goal is that this allows us to build or to bring on 44,000 additional units, which is what the estimate is (for) the total gap we have to fill over the next 10 years.”
The Denver City Council needs to vote on the proposal for its inclusion on the November ballot for voter approval or rejection.
Photo: Mayor Mike Johnston (left) with friend, courtesy of the mayor’s Facebook page
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Stay out of the banking world. Don’t raise taxes. Lower taxes and give tax incentives to developers to build additional housing. Remove zoning restrictions in city core and blighted areas to create space for the needed housing.
Don’t forget to add these city/govt. officials need to take a pay cut & cut the fat out of the city/county/state budget. Quit giving freebies to illegals, stop funding anything DEI, Climate change crap!
This is why every American needs to stop affordable housing before it starts. It is key to the socialists destroying cities and towns and cementing perpetual power. Every blue city is a nightmare with affordable housing as the core. Get involved. Be heard. Join the resistance in your town.
Yearly inspections, when they sell all money the city put in goes back to city. Take classes for money management and how to take care of house,
Another knee jerk reaction to a housing market issue that won’t work.
Every D solution involves a tax.
Get a job….quit having so many kids…u can go by low income housing middle of day and people just hanging out…why aren’t they at work? Because we pay their rent…
“Affordable Housing” ends up costing everyone more in the long-run because someone has to pay for it. Those who vote for it forget that the money has to come from somewhere and it comes from the pockets of the middle class (i.e. the sales tax this socialist mayor is planning to implement to pay for it).
“Affordable Housing” = Socialism
Stupid idea. This mayor must be Democrats which can explain he is an idiot.
As a community builder who has done a number of 40B projects, the affordable housing program is not a good solution. There is a small window of people who are income eligible yet make enough to qualify for a mortgage. This does nothing for the everyday working couples who are finding homes un-affordable and whose income exceeds the guidelines. It sounds good in a political speech but does nothing for 90% of Americans who vote for it.
Let us be reminded; people who own houses also pay tax, property, etc. There are several financial programs that states have access to; and many banks offer for those who are marginally employed. I can tell you by experience that when someone who is in a terrible housing situation, getting a house that they own will cause them to feel better about themselves and they get advancements at work and make more to allow them to keep their small home. These homes do not have to be elaborate, just adequate and functional.
My concern is where will this money ACTUALLY go? Who will be responsible for tracking it’s use. So many guardrails to this concept!
Too many people will take a cut of the pie and there will be nothing, but regulations left.
It’s a dumb idea.