I had hoped to let the one-half cent sales tax sunset this year, but we do not believe revenues will grow as fast as we hoped for the rest of the year.

We forecast an increase of approximately 15 per cent in operating profit after tax for the half year ending 31 December 2005, over the amount reported for the prior corresponding period,

If there were no sales tax-free holidays, would the situation be any different for consumers? We asked consumers that question in a survey, and 70 percent said a tax-free week didn't affect their shopping.

This thing would pay for itself to the city over time. This will generate new sales tax. I don't think anything would have happened on that site. It would have sat there and decayed without the help the city has provided through this redevelopment district. If the project would have worked without the city investing $3 million, then that site would have been developed a long time ago.

I worked for half a cent a word. I'm not a fast writer to begin with, so for the first few years I had do other things.

Every week the state puts out a new sales tax permit report that you can ask for sorted by ZIP code. We get a copy of that report to make sure that new folks coming into the city are reporting to the correct city. Every week there's an error.