I have a dream...

But if taxes are replaced with a local sales tax, then wouldn't people just go to neighboring cities to spend their money?

JJ's right on. Add to that the fact no one will come to the city to buy anything, businesses move, city collects no taxes.

Worst idea ever.

I can directly control what I purchase, so under this system I could decrease my taxes by reducing my spending on store-bought goods. The way the tax structure is now, I can never (as an individual) control or decrease my city tax burden as long as the majority continues to vote for city tax increases.

I, too, would like to try MrsPh's dream world. Why don't we make it "temporary" and try it out for a decade?

That's the point Viola. If you could reduce your tax burden by deciding where you spend your money, you wouldn't spend it in Toledo if goods and services cost more due to an increased sales tax. Sure let's try it for a decade, but there won't be any businesses left in Toledo after 10 years.

That would not be good at all for the city.Why would you buy your goods in Toledo when you could get your goods in the outlying cities where there was no sales tax.Also,it would hurt the less affluent more because they might not have transportation that would allow them to buy elsewhere.You think Toledo is bad now,just try a sales tax and we will be on our way to being a ghost town.

"I can never (as an individual) control or decrease my city tax burden as long as the majority continues to vote for city tax increases."

In my opinion, if one or both of the income tax increase proposals pass on May 4, it will hurt small businesses in Toledo.

Toledoans can change buying habits to find savings that will help offset increases in income and property taxes. Spend less money on entertainment like sport and art events. Buy a cookbook and dine out less and cook fancier at home. Engage in more Do-It-Yourself instead of farming the chore out to a local business. Do more comparison shopping. Shop more at big box chain stores, instead of the small, local, independent businesses if money can be saved. Shop more over the Web for the same reason.

If you can save 5 to 10 percent or more a month by eschewing small, local businesses and little luxuries like a $4 fancy coffee, well, that may be an unfortunate but necessary change in shopping habits. At some point, households "selfishly" have to think about themselves. I get the feeling that TPS and Toledo city government believe that all citizens are receiving 20 percent raises, and these significant tax increase proposals will not bother us.

The TPS .75 percent earned income tax increase proposal is devastating.

• A person with $30,000 income would pay $225 annually with the new 0.75 percent income tax.
• A $60,000 income would pay $450 more annually.
• A $100,000 income would pay $750 more annually.

If that tax passes, it has to impact households negatively, unless everyone is putting everything on credit card debt. These tax increases will cause some people to make changes to their budgets.

A household can save money by moving out of Toledo, which can hurt Toledo businesses. The quick fix, however, is for households to change buying habits. Voter-approved tax increases may cause Walmart to gain more fans, which is an ironic situation for Toledo.

The irony here is that businesses have ALREADY made our decisions for us. The income tax for Toledo will continue to bring in less revenue, since incomes for Toledo will continue to disappear or drop, per those businesses.

Revenue must tank. Why aren't SPENDING CUTS being pursued instead?

I was also wondering about the spending cuts. When the city's budget is in such hurt, the non-essential staff and programs need to be closely reviewed and axed.
If any new tax increases are placed upon Toledo residents, then I don't think I can muster the fight to stay in this city. I am already amazed at the Toledo tax burden when I do my taxes every year. No mas. No mas.

Who are the businessmen on Bell's transition team? do they have any experience in dealing with businesses with financial issues?

In any city I've lived in, I've had to measure the tradeoffs between shopping at the closest possible store vs. going some distance to save money. In other places, traffic is so bad, I would plan my longer trips pretty carefully and make one long, unpleasant, traffic-choked errand run. Shopping was nothing more than a chore, accompanied by hundreds of people doing the same things at the same time.

I value my time, and I prefer to make more frequent, smaller trips to stores that I enjoy (all of which I was able to walk to during a recent snowstorm). To preserve this aspect of my quality of life, I need the smaller neighborhood stores to stay in business, so I am happy to do most of my shopping there.

Based on my priorities, I can say that if there were a tax increase that made city stores more expensive, I would not begin driving to large stores outside the city limits for the bulk of my shopping. I realize that there are people who need to pay the lowest possible monetary price for everything. And I know that the big-box stores are a blessing for them. But in my circumstances, I do feel that I can say that I would not automatically start shopping outside the city limits to avoid a higher sales tax.

I am grateful that Toledo has liveable, walkable neighborhoods -- this is an advantage that lots of other cities can't offer.