When States Limit Cities

Posted by Bridget Marquis on April 10, 2009

How is it possible that playing host to Sail Boston and the World Series has a negative net ROI for Boston?

Boston, with no local sales tax, is severely limited in the number of revenue sources available to it.  “What would be a windfall to cities elsewhere is a liability here, since Boston derives limited tax benefit from the economic activity even as it incurs the costs of being the host city.” As explained in this op-ed co-authored by CEOs for Cities network partner Jim Rooney of The Boston Foundation.

In a time when cities are becoming even more critical to our nation's economic vitality and to our global relevance, these outdated tax structures need to change in order to incentivize vibrancy in our urban centers.  In the long run when Boston loses, the state and the nation lose, too.