HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 1421~- lies®~u~a®n ».~~ H~ I !~Z 1
WHEREAS, the federal, state, and focal governments all share in the responsibility
of building and maintaining the nation's physical and Institutional infrastructure
and in providing essential services needed to promote the general welfare, and
WHEREAS, the federal government has steadily reduced Its responsibility for
infrastructure requirements, and has shifted more and more financial
responsibility to states and units of local government, and
WHEREAS, shifting the tax burden from the national level to state and local government
is an illusory savings for taxpayers and provides no net tax relief, and
WHEREAS, financing state and local government projects through the issuance of
bonds the interest on which is not taxed by the federal government is critical to
allow states and local governments to exercise the responsibilities entrusted to
- and expected of them, and
WHEREAS, in recent years, the U.S. Congress has both limited the use of tax-exempt
bonds by states and local governments, and made municipal bonds less
attractive to significant groups of purchasers, thereby driving up the cost of
;~ financing public service projects, and
WHEREAS, in 1968 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 100-year-old precedent,
ruling for the first time that the Constitution does not prohibit the federal govern-
. ment from taxing the interest on state and local government bonds, and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court decision places in jeopardy the use of tax-exempt
. bonds by the more than 85,000 un~cs of state and local government, as
Congress seeks new sources of revenue to reduce the federal deficit, and
WHEREAS, state and local borrowing costs will increase by an estimated 20 to 30
percent if the interest on tax-exempt bonds is subject to federal income tax,
and this added burden will be reflected in reductions in public services or by
increased state and local taxes, and
WHEREAS, further restrictions on the use of tax-exempt bonds will seriously impair
the ability of state and local governments to finance essential services and
facilities, Including schools, roads, water, sewer, gas, electricity, transportation
and ocher basic functions, to the deViment of all citizens,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: that the City Council of the City of Fort Worth
calls upon Congress and the President to recognize that the state and local
burden of maintaining and expanding the national infrastructure and providing
±~ citizens with needed basic governmenlai services cannot be met without tax-
. exempt bonds, and to resist all further efforts to reduce the use of such bonds to
finance governmental projects.
APPROVED
ADOPTED this ~~ day of , 1989. L'~TM C~UN
• ~ f O ~ 1 MAY 30
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