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I really don't get how it's an ungenerous reading. It's funded by taxes. Grants are paid for by taxes. Many tax pennies were spent. Just because it didn't co

I really don't get how it's an ungenerous reading. It's funded by taxes. Grants are paid for by taxes. Many tax pennies were spent. Just because it didn't come out of the city council pot makes no difference.

TaylorAlexander 5y ago
I agree with you. I think it is perhaps a great use of tax revenues, but at the state level all that tax revenue came from taxes. At the federal level it is possible to create money from nothing, something fans of Modern Monetary Theory would emphasize. Tho for the most part that is also tax dollars. Could be a good use of taxes but I don’t think it’s correct to say “not a penny of tax revenues spent”.
- bawana 5y ago
  ^THIS. The fed govt prints more money. Cities and everyone else cannot,until every town starts to mine their own coin. Would you rather mine dodge coin or ‘new York’ coin that is backed by a municipal bond issue?
dendriti 5y ago
Someone above explained exactly how and why a state/Federal grant is different than local taxes.
Talanes 5y ago
It does, because this is ultimately a discussion about allowing municipalities to operate their own broadband. The questions of whether the state and federal governments should be handing out grants to build out these issues would be separate legislative issues.
- mbreese 5y ago
  The article mentions that municipal broadband networks in Ohio are now explicitly banned from applying/receiving new rounds of state grants. That’s part of this package. > municipalities and electric cooperatives in the state do not have access to the proposed $250 million broadband expansion grant program that will be established
- mattmanser 5y ago
  This is getting a bit frustrating He literally said 'no tax pennies were spent'. They obviously were, what he wrote is factually incorrect, taxes are taxes, just because they didn't have to rise council tax is totally irrelevant. He also claimed "There is absolutely nothing about this service that is a hand out from the government". That is also completely WRONG if as he claimed they received state and federal grants. A lie. It is subsidised. i.e. You're completely wrong, the original poster woefully misunderstands taxes and grants if he's claiming no handouts and and taxes, please stop now. I think broadband should be a public utility, this has got nothing to do with my politics, it's simply pointing out the original comment is factually incorrect in its claims. His town's broadband was subsidised, it was built using tax payer pennies and it did require a handout.
  - Talanes 5y ago
    Now you're just getting hung up on semantics, when the posters actual intended meaning was clear to several others here. If you want to go down that road, however, grant dollars are already allocated and could thus be considered already spent. Do you really want to be having an argument about what spend means?
iso1631 5y ago
Probably should have been phrased "without a single penny spent of local tax dollar money. We've been fortunate to get enough grant money from both state and federal to get this off the ground." That will get local support as local anti-tax people know that if they don't spend the state/fed money, other towns will. They won't get lower state/fed taxes.

TaylorAlexander 5y ago

I agree with you. I think it is perhaps a great use of tax revenues, but at the state level all that tax revenue came from taxes. At the federal level it is possible to create money from nothing, something fans of Modern Monetary Theory would emphasize. Tho for the most part that is also tax dollars. Could be a good use of taxes but I don’t think it’s correct to say “not a penny of tax revenues spent”.

bawana 5y ago
^THIS. The fed govt prints more money. Cities and everyone else cannot,until every town starts to mine their own coin. Would you rather mine dodge coin or ‘new York’ coin that is backed by a municipal bond issue?

dendriti 5y ago

Someone above explained exactly how and why a state/Federal grant is different than local taxes.

Talanes 5y ago

It does, because this is ultimately a discussion about allowing municipalities to operate their own broadband. The questions of whether the state and federal governments should be handing out grants to build out these issues would be separate legislative issues.

mbreese 5y ago
The article mentions that municipal broadband networks in Ohio are now explicitly banned from applying/receiving new rounds of state grants. That’s part of this package. > municipalities and electric cooperatives in the state do not have access to the proposed $250 million broadband expansion grant program that will be established
mattmanser 5y ago
This is getting a bit frustrating He literally said 'no tax pennies were spent'. They obviously were, what he wrote is factually incorrect, taxes are taxes, just because they didn't have to rise council tax is totally irrelevant. He also claimed "There is absolutely nothing about this service that is a hand out from the government". That is also completely WRONG if as he claimed they received state and federal grants. A lie. It is subsidised. i.e. You're completely wrong, the original poster woefully misunderstands taxes and grants if he's claiming no handouts and and taxes, please stop now. I think broadband should be a public utility, this has got nothing to do with my politics, it's simply pointing out the original comment is factually incorrect in its claims. His town's broadband was subsidised, it was built using tax payer pennies and it did require a handout.
- Talanes 5y ago
  Now you're just getting hung up on semantics, when the posters actual intended meaning was clear to several others here. If you want to go down that road, however, grant dollars are already allocated and could thus be considered already spent. Do you really want to be having an argument about what spend means?

iso1631 5y ago

Probably should have been phrased "without a single penny spent of local tax dollar money. We've been fortunate to get enough grant money from both state and federal to get this off the ground." That will get local support as local anti-tax people know that if they don't spend the state/fed money, other towns will. They won't get lower state/fed taxes.