No Taxation Without Repre...You Know What, Just No Taxation

How is it possible that it's far easier for a municipality to declare bankruptcy than it is to raise taxes, to the point where Chapter 9 bankruptcy isn't just the first choice, but the only choice?  Everywhere in this article I see people saying how the city of Hamtramck, Michigan can't possibly cut any more, that bankruptcy is the only option, and that bankruptcy will be used to cut as much out of city workers' contracts as possible, according to William Cooper, City Manager.

Although Mr. Cooper says he believes bankruptcy, which could allow the city to “start over” with its labor contracts, is the only solution, the authorities in the state of Michigan have so far rejected the city’s request that the governor issue an executive order allowing Hamtramck to file for bankruptcy. An official from the state’s Treasury Department said that no city in Michigan has gone through bankruptcy, and that the governor has no such authority; the state has specific provisions for authorizing a bankruptcy filing, including intervention from an emergency financial manager and an emergency loan board. The current administration, which will be departing later this week, has urged Hamtramck to seek state assistance, including a possible emergency loan. 

But nowhere in the entire article is the concept of raising taxes even brought up.  Property tax revenue forecasts are simply "anemic" like they are a victim of a permanently fixed rate.

It's like raising taxes simply doesn't exist anymore.  Hamtramck would rather be the first city in Michigan history to declare bankruptcy and use it as an excuse to arbitrarily take money away from its employees than kick up the mill rate on property taxes in the city.  This is broken economics.  You can never, ever, ever raise taxes?  Seriously?

We live in an era where the people who get shot at, the people who run into burning buildings, the people who teach our kids and the people who fix our roads are not actual human beings with families and who pay taxes too mind you, but are seen as some sort of public blight on the landscape that must be eliminated, like they are society's punishment for having a civilization.  We tolerate them at best and at worst, rise against them and say "you will pay for this.  Not all of us.  Just you."  Exactly who provides these services if we refuse to pay for them?

Except in the end we all indeed pay for it, one way or another.