Hi all. Last week, Bruce Anderson posted about taxes in the City and our current unique opportunity to influence change. I'd like to add my voice to his comments and even add a couple more comments:
Some Facts About Philadelphia: 1) Philadelphia has some of the highest taxes of any large city in the nation. 2) Philadelphia's tax structure emphasizes wage and business' profits. 3) The surrounding counties and municipalities have little or no taxation on wages and profits. 4) The City's just-released Five-Year Plan and Budget proposes halting the gradual wage tax cuts in favor of more aggressive cuts in the gross-receipts tax on business activity conducted in the City. This will increase our reliance on the wage tax relative to other taxes, the wrong direction if we are ever going to reign in the nefarious wage tax. Some Facts About Other Cities: 1) Other cities collect a significantly larger proportion of their revenues from sales tax. 2) How? Other cities are located in states that allocate 3 or 4 percentage points of city sales tax collections back to the cities. Pennsylvania allocates 1%. 3) Some other cities have adopted a land tax or have at least begun enforcing property maintenance codes to discourage profiteering by absentee landlords. 4) Other cities are located in states where legislators don't publicly call their cities "cancers on the state" or "drags on the economy." To sum up, other cities are luckier than we are, but they are also more proactive than we are. While there isn't much we can do about our luck, someone once said that "luck favors the well-prepared." It's about time Philadelphia started becoming well-prepared! Fortunately, we now have the opportunity: 1) If you can, please show up at City Hall tomorrow (Wednesday) any time after 1:00. Even if you don't volunteer to speak, recent history shows that Council responds to crowds in their chambers (Bill 629 and a Chinatown baseball stadium both are dead), so it's worth showing up for even a few minutes to show them how important taxes are. 2) Visit "hallwatch.org" and click on the "write your elected officials" link toward the bottom of the page. Tell them how you feel about the City's taxes (or other issues). 3) Visit "philadelphiacontroller.org" to read some proposed tax structure changes. Respond to him with your comments. He wants to see a change and wants your help and suggestions. Or, if you just want to chat with another Phila-phile, contact me off the list. Coffee and chatting are always fun. Best, --Eli ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. Archive is at <http://www.mail-archive.com/>.
