Sohodojo Advisory Board Member
Jim Schneider
The Taxman86 Speaks...
06 May 2001
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Welcome to the "New Enterprise Zones," the Tax Relief Act of 2001, and the New San Diego.
New Enterprise Zones [126] maybe coming.
The Taxman86 and friends, including Gene Gaines of Sterling, Virginia, Brad Rothermel of Las Vegas, San Diego's Mayor Dick Murphy, Senators Boxer, Feinstein, Reid, Baucus, Breaux, Jeffords, Hatch, Collins and Snow, McCain, Kyl, Snow and Collins have proposed to the Bush Administration that it would be simpler and more effective to combine the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities, as of January 1, 2001, as was originally proposed by then Senator Connie Mack and twenty other Republican Senators, including Senators Lott and Nichols in 1993 [S.B. 102 of the 103rd Congress].
That is also the conclusion of the Joint Committee of Taxation in their recently published "Study Of The Overall State Of The Federal Tax System And Recommendations For Simplification, Pursuant To Section 8022(3)(B) Of The Federal Tax System" [See pdf file]
Maybe after many years of hard work Jack Kemp's Dream or Vision, as the case maybe, of tax incentives for revitalization will be realized and Cities such as Buffalo, NY, Newark, NJ, Pittsburgh, PA, Akron OH, South Central Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, and many, many others.
As noted below the City of San Diego is going through another period of tough times [when the Taxman86 came to San Diego in 1968 it was recovering from a bad recession, and since then the boom and bust has occurred many times to a great City by the Bay]. However, tough times are not new to the communities with the San Diego Federal Enterprise Community, the San Diego State Enterprise Zone or the Barrio Logan Redevelopment Project Area, circa 1984, 85/86 to 2001.
Relief is on its way, we have been told.
As you may have heard Congress and the President have made a deal to have a $1.35T tax cut bill on his desk on or about May 18, 2001 and that will be fun to watch. We suggest a daily hit to Tax Analysts.Org is a must if you want to see where this is all going, including Estate and Gift [effective for those that die in 2002 or later, so check you Power of Attorney'a for medical life support so machines are left on until January 1, 2002], Pension, Rate Reductions, Historic Housing, Small Business Tax Relief, Farmers Tax Relief, Oil and Gas Producers Tax Relief, and maybe Distressed Communities Tax Relief, plus a quick $300 to help you pay your gas and electric bills this summer.
The New San Diego as seen by the Taxman86.
Today marks the fifth anniversary of my wife and my move back to beautiful San Diego from my hometown of Long Beach, California [The Taxman86 grew up in Long Beach, went to Long Beach Poly High, home of the Jack Rabbits, played on the its beautiful beaches and fished with my father from the Belmont Pier, or overnight to Santa Catalina in the 50's]. San Diego in 1958/59 was a tired old navy town, as was Long Beach, of about 300,000. Today it is a high tech city of 1.4M, ranked amongst the ten best by Newsweek in their recent April issue on Cities of the Future; and paying the highest gas rates in California, with traffic that is worse then Los Angeles, if you can believe that. Long Beach has not changed much but does have the largest port, with the City of Los Angeles, in the nation and in the top five in the world.
Downtown San Diego is something to be proud of if you believe the PR by the Centre City Development Corporation and some of our leading local economists, and we must agree after our daily outing to the Point Loma Area today, along a five-mile trip of the Bay, but there is trouble in River City, as noted by one of our leading Investigating Reporters, Matt Potter of the San Diego Reader.
Matt Potter, a friend for twenty-five years, when the Gaslamp Quarter was a dream or vision, as the case maybe is a tough act to follow with his doom and groom but we have one up on him; the Quarter's businesses are in a major recession, from the failed Ballpark Project, from traffic, high parking fees, and too much construction.
The Taxman86 has suggested that the Quarter support an Empowerment Zone for downtown San Diego's Enterprise Community but they fail to hear; we have suggested they file for State Enterprise Zone credits that have been available since 1991 for all of the Quarter because of efforts by the Taxman86.
We have even suggested they could qualify for 6% financing from the City of San Diego, up to $3M, as any other Enterprise Zone Business could have done since 1994 and they still do not listen. Maybe someday this will change but today is not the time or place. We wish them well because it would be a shame to see the Quarter as it was in 1985/86 and 87, not withstanding Horton Plaza's Opening in 1985.
Jim Schneider, LL.M.
Taxman86
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