What am I paying for?

Kansas City charges a 1% city tax to live and/or work in this city. If you wonder where I'm going with this one, just read the title. What is this paying for?

Opponents of his tax are fighting the tax with an upcoming vote to repeal the tax. I have to admit, I haven't studied this issue as much as I should but I have to ask that question...what is the money paying for?

The city has advertisements out saying it is 40% of the city budget and pays for police, fire and ambulance services. People will die if we repeal the tax. The world will basically end if this tax is stopped. I guess the sky will fall also. Other cities that don't have such a tax manage to survive. Kansas City has this tax and the ugly truth is KC is dying a slow death. Not to mention using scare tactics is not the best way to get people to support spending money. We all know that the city will find an alternative way to tax us that will make up the balance of the money it will lose.

When you speak to locals here, even they criticize the city. Something a co-worker said just yesterday was that St. Louis has everything downtown and KC is the opposite of that. The real ugly truth is KC is rapidly becoming a suburb. People are leaving this city for a variety of reasons and moving to where the culture/action exists because it's not in KC.

With a tax such as this, many businesses have left the city. Why pay extra to have a business in a city with several vacant buildings, no downtown culture/life and a City Council that seems to be lost? A great example of lost business is the proposed soccer stadium. City leaders said the stadium was to come to KCMO, it didn't. One reason the project was moved to Kansas is the city tax here in Kansas City, MO. The city is losing residents and businesses because of this tax so honestly, how much good can this tax be?