Some quick thoughts on a few different posts from the last couple of days...
Karen Allen says, "If anything, Marty is a perfect illustration of what's wrong with the current health care system, where medical expenses can force people onto the street." That is very true. The hidden issue here is unquestionably the health care system. We can argue all we want about the morality and/or legality of Marty's actions (or those of Councilwoman Blackwell on his behalf), but this is a much larger problem that affects all of us. Karen also says, "I'm also sorry that the Inquirer couldn't give the same attention to his personal struggle as it did to the fact that he was a city employee who didn't [couldn’t] pay his property taxes." The first Inquirer article (7/19) included this: "Reached by phone, Cabry said he had accumulated the debt in part because of his divorce, his health problems (including a lung transplant), and the expensive medical treatments needed for his adult daughter, who has spina bifida." http://www.philly.com/philly/news/51107802.html The second one (7/21) included this: "Cabry said last week that health problems led him into the property-tax debt. He is afflicted with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a serious condition that forced him to get a double lung transplant three years ago. Cabry's adult daughter, whom he cares for, has spina bifida." http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/51284642.html If the Inky were reporting on the inequities of the health-care system, and the effe cts of those inequities on real people, I'd have expected much more detail about Marty's personal situation, along with a brief mention that one of the side-effects of those inequities was his tax situation. But since the topic of both articles was tax-delinquent city employees, this seems to be reasonable and fair coverage. And, unfortunately, Marty happened to be the "worst case" example -- the most owed, and delinquent for the longest time. So omitting him from the story would have been a real reportorial omission. In another posting, Liz Campion remarks that she is "...glad he is able and willing to earn wages (and pay wage taxes)..." The implicit comparison between wage and real estate taxes is misleading and irrelevant. If you live or are employed in Philly, the law requires that wage taxes be directly deducted from your paycheck by your employer. If you have a job, you don't get a choice about paying them. Real estate taxes are not a paycheck deduction (unless the city garnishes your pay). Not paying them is a choice which several thousand City employees appear to have made.
