Art tax: Bureaucracy sucks up too much money

Re: “Art tax money starts to make difference in community,” (TNT, 12/30).

Intending to inject more art into the life of the city, Tacoma voters in 2018 approved an extra 1/10th of a percent tax on sales in the city. As millions started rolling in, City Hall immediately drained off a big chunk to hire three more full-time staff.

However well-meaning the new hires, their salaries, benefits, and office costs drain money from the small, inexpensive neighborhood programs the voters were promised.

Local arts groups could easily band together to manage the program with full public accountability and near-zero overhead.

Paid disproportionately by the poor, sales taxes are collected from every corner of the city. If all Tacoma’s neighborhoods are to enjoy more art, city leaders need to rethink and redesign.

Tacoma voters asked for art and got bureaucrats. It’s time for City Hall to do some much more creative thinking about how to deliver on their original promise.

This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Art tax: Bureaucracy sucks up too much money."