Community Empowerment Matters

  Online businesses entered a modern-day renaissance due to the COVID pandemic and have since maintained their popularity with the ever-increasing property price, commercial interest rates, and ongoing health concerns. For those interested in operating their own online business, it’s important to note there are nuances to consider when running an online business as opposed to a traditional brick-and-mortar business. Sales Tax If you’re starting an online business, chances are you’re selling a good or product, probably in multiple areas. If this applies to you, you should ensure that you collect the appropriate sales taxes when selling any product. It’s up to you to collect and report sales tax payments. Failure to have accurate records may result in penalties and skewed revenue figures and projections. However, you usually need a sales tax license to collect sales tax. Use online sales tax calculators to estimate how much you should collect. Be mindful that you are generally r

  How We Got Here             Since the people of the state of Michigan voted in favor of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (commonly known as Proposal 1) in 2018, possession of cannabis by individuals 21 years old and older has been legal. The law took effect in December of that year, and the first dispensaries opened less than a year later.             Yet almost four years out, there is not a single recreational marijuana dispensary in the state’s largest city, Detroit, despite the fact that over 60% of Wayne County voters cast their ballots in favor of legalization- the third highest percentage of any county in the state. The reasons for this delay lay largely in the fact that recreational marijuana was not approved at the city level until 2020. However, there have been other forces at work to prevent the opening of dispensaries in Detroit.   The Main Hurdle One of the most notable sticking points has been language in the city’s ordinance which reserves

  The Detroit metropolitan area suffers from one of the highest rates of wealth inequality in the United States. [1] In response to such concerns, Detroit voters passed in 2016 a community benefits ordinance (CBO) law for the first time in the city’s history; formalizing a set of regulations requiring developers to consult and negotiate with a local resident council to build a community consensus on infrastructural and service benefits. Building on a number of other community benefits agreements that cities around the United States began adopting in the 1990s, the Detroit law stipulates that qualifying development projects provide community benefits such as local employment opportunities, subsidized housing, public amenities and other infrastructural improvements, thereby ensuring that surrounding communities receive socioeconomic dividends from such project. This article discusses the current legal scope of the city’s CBO, enforcement challenges surrounding the ordinance, and suggest