High Taxes One Reason For Detroit's Decline

While high taxes isn't the only cause of Detroit's problem, a high violent crime rate (with 385 murders per year in a city of less than 700,000) is also an important factor, clearly high taxes is a factor. Here is a comparison of the taxation level in Detroit and a few nearby jurisdictions:

Detroit almost certainly is on the wrong side of the Laffer curve, and would probably see revenue increase if rates were reduced.