Why the hell does Detroit have a city tax?

Is there any reason why Detroit should have a city tax and ridiculous property taxes? I'm no economist, but it seems pretty stupid to ask people to pay for the privilege of living in relative squalor. If anything, we should have almost no taxes. It's not like our money's being put to use. I've been in Detroit for almost two weeks and I haven't seen a single bus. I don't even hear police and ambulance sirens anymore, and I don't think that's because the city is any safer. Either the city cut back on public servants that matter. Again. Or the drivers of police cars and ambulances finally realized that using a siren to weave through traffic at 90 mph doesn't make much sense when you're going to be 20 minutes late anyway. 

If the city government really wanted to make the city any better, it would consider lowering taxes as much as possible, diverting as many resources as possible toward making the city safe in order to give business incentives to move in the city. As of now, there's no reason to build a business here. It's like asking to lose money. The city is just too unsafe and expensive. If some moron doesn't  vandalize, or worse, rob your shop until you go out of business, the city's ridiculous taxes will cut into your profits until you're smarten up and move into the suburbs, where the benefits of your location are greater than the costs.