While thousands of Toledoans will attend MudHens games and pack entertainment venues across the city this spring as a way to alleviate the pains of the recession, their purchased tickets may well end up fixing the very cause of their anguish.
Facing a $48 million deficit, city officials can’t just rely on one solution to balance the budget. In order to restore Toledo’s fiscal health, it will take a well-orchestrated combination of tax increases and spending reductions. That is why the 8 percent entertainment tax proposed by Mayor Mike Bell’s administration, if passed, will put the city one step closer to fixing its budget.
However, Bell’s proposed tax has already been met with discord. Area entertainment companies, such as the Toledo Mudhens, question (and challenge) the wisdom of enacting an entertainment tax; however, in the private sector, a change in policies — especially taxes — is usually unwelcome and unwise because that change holds the potential to eat at corporate profits.
Before they oppose the tax simply because it’s a tax, area businesses should consider the benefits balancing the budget will hold for both them and the city. Though the tax may drive away some consumers, for the most part people will continue to seek out entertainment; similar to how a sales tax on clothes rarely ever keeps people from buying clothes. Area businesses must realize that taxes such as the entertainment tax are not being passed to raise money for peripheral government programs; rather the funds will go toward the basics — police, fire safety and infrastructure.
If the entertainment tax is enacted, Toledoans can have a good time while moving toward better economic times.
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