A story about Youngstown's income tax revenues appeared in the newspaper recently. In 2006 the tax receipts were $47,000,000. In 2015, the income tax collections had dropped to $40,000,000.
Should the city attempt to increase income tax revenues, or should the city cut services?
The most obvious culprit as far as falling revenues is declining population and loss of good
paying jobs that allow people to earn a livable wage. Youngstown has lost around 10,000
people since 2006 - so the loss of taxes is a no brainer.
Rather than cutting services, the city needs to constantly look for ways to reduce the costs of
providing the services that it does - while at the same time going after businesses that might
want to locate in the city with everything they can muster - NON STOP.