Groups are advocating a new 7-cent property tax on downtown business plus $400,000 annually from the City of Asheville and Buncombe County. It is expected the 7-cent tax alone would raise $500,000 annually, and economic multipliers would, well, you can probably guess the results to the penny. The tax is for a business improvement district, a zone in which a special tax is collected to perform basic city services when the city is too poor on account of chasing synergies and other very exciting things.