If it wasn’t mentioned before, the nonprofit I work for is called Community Development Advocates of Detroit, better known as CDAD.
My main assignment is to draft a Tax Incentive “white paper”, which essentially is a tool for community members to learn about what tax incentives are. Unfortunately, I’ve been having trouble understanding and defining them myself. When researching taxes, you’ll find that most of the information isn’t as straightforward. Their are rules, loopholes, and many different variations of same kind of tax. It seems there is always more to the words than what’s on paper.
Anyway, I say all of this to say, that this week I had a better understanding of what tax incentives are, what they do, how we use them, and most importantly, why it matters. When you buy your home, start a business, start your career, etc., taxes (money in general) is a huge part of life. As much as we don’t want it to be, money is a major force that rules our world. Due to this, our communities and neighborhoods are influenced by such decisions. Most times when we think certain changes are about opportunity and resources, it can be about greed just as much.
Overall, my project is teaching me a lot about the way our society works and how to navigate it.
