cptmiles
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Swayzee, IN | reply to JTRockville
Re: Will Municipal Providers Get the Same Relief?
Do municipalities get taxed in the first place? They are using tax dollars to build these systems. It would be redundant to charge additional taxes to something being paid for by taxes wouldn't it? |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
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| Hmmm...
"Municipalities don't have to pay taxes" is Myth #4 in the Top Ten Myths and Realities About Municipal Broadband Projects:
»www.baller.com/pdfs/texas_industry_resp.pdf
quote:
Municipalities make higher "payments in lieu of taxes" and don't get taxbreaks. Some opponents of municipal broadband have argued that municipal utilities have an advantage over private sector providers when offering broadband because municipalities don't have to pay taxes. The truth is, municipal utilities make "payments in lieu of taxes" to local governments that are usually much higher than the local taxes that private entities pay. Municipal entities do not pay income taxes, but that is because they are non-profit organizations that do not make profits. At the same time, municipalities are not eligible for the billions of dollars of investment tax credits, accelerated depreciation, and other tax write-offs that often bring the effective income tax rates of private entities down to zero or less.
So I guess I should have asked: Will municipalities be excused from "payments in lieu of taxes" when deploying next-gen?
btw, do you know of any municipal broadband deployments that were built with taxpayer dollars? |
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cptmiles
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Swayzee, IN
| Actually I don't know how many muni based broadband deployments are out there, but if the money doesn't come from tax payers where does it come from? And to play devil's advocate, if I am a taxpaying owner of a business in a particular area, why should I be forced to pay taxes to my competitor? |
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