QUESTION
Can savings be found in the city's tax expenditures to address future budget concerns?
1:07:41
·
105 sec
The Budget Director, Jacques Jiha, acknowledges the importance of reviewing and potentially modernizing tax expenditures to find savings, but emphasizes challenges, including long-term commitments and the need to collaborate with the state.
- Jacques Jiha concedes that revisiting tax breaks focused on economic development is necessary but highlights obstacles in using them for immediate budget gap closures.
- Tax expenditures, often spanning 20 years or more, cannot quickly address current or upcoming fiscal year concerns.
- The city regularly reviews tax expenditures upon renewal or expansion, seeking opportunities to modernize and find savings.
- Despite the focus on immediate budget gaps, Jiha and the Council Member agree on the importance of working together to reevaluate and potentially update tax policies for long-term benefits.
- Collaboration with the state is necessary for significant changes to tax expenditures, indicating a complex process ahead.
Justin L. Brannan
1:07:41
In previous hearings, we've asked about the city's effort to find savings and efficiencies and the city's suite of tax expenditures, particularly the over $3,000,000,000 in annual tax breaks that are focused on economic development.
1:07:54
In the past, your response has been that those savings accrue to out years and are of little use in the addressing budget concerns of current and upcoming fiscal year.
1:08:03
However, as we see economic and tax revenue outlooks improving, I think it's becoming clear that the out years is where the real stress on the budget is, and perhaps we need to start thinking now about how we balance the budgets several years down the road.
1:08:17
Do you believe that there are savings that could be found in the city's tax expenditures.
Jacques Jiha
1:08:23
Of course, we are not saying that they should not be reviewed and reevaluated.
1:08:31
We are simply saying that they cannot be used for gap closures this year or next because they are often awarded for like 20 years or more.
1:08:42
So we always review tax expenditures when they come out for renewal or for expansion.
1:08:50
So if there is an opportunity to modernize them to, you know, we will always do and try to find settings, it's just a question now from our perspective.
1:08:58
Is we're trying to deal with cap closures this year, next year, and these things are way out there 20, 30 years.
1:09:05
It's really extremely.
1:09:06
And more importantly, we it's not things that we can do all along.
1:09:09
We have to go to the state.
Justin L. Brannan
1:09:11
Okay.
1:09:12
It's it's something we'd love to work with you on.
Jacques Jiha
1:09:13
Yeah.
1:09:14
We will definitely want to work you.
1:09:15
But again, as I said, it's just the challenge as we did for GAAP closing, but we will be more than happy to work with you to modernize many of them.