Coming Clean: Taxes May Be Necessary To Fix State Infrastructure
Corbett was swept into office on a pledge of not raising taxes, but a Republican in the state legislature has said increasingly motor vehicle fees – which Corbett actually claimed during the campaign were different from taxes – as well as increasing the taxes on gas might be necessary to fund the transportation crises taking place all over the state, specifically...
Continue ReadingDoes Anyone Care About Business-Tax Reform?
PhillyNow column in our Dec. 1 print edition: The city is about to make major changes to the way it collects business taxes—which could potentially become law by the end of the year—but are businesses paying attention? To briefly recap: Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez have proposed a bill that would eliminate the net-profit portion...
Continue ReadingWith Gubernatorial Candidates Like These…
Hey, fees are totally different from taxes. TOTALLY DIFFERENT. The biggest difference is that (freedom) fees are what Real Americans pay while taxes are for the french. Just ask Attorney General Corbett. The Daily News is reporting that he’s been contradicting himself lately – especially in his own campaign ads. Corbett touts in his ad the pledge he signed...
Continue ReadingBill Green Drops Triple Threat, Council Leaves on Vacation
Just before City Council started their summer recess last week, Councilman-At-Large Bill Green went for a late hat trick, introducing or signing onto three separate efforts bring reform to various areas of city government. It’s positive movement, so we’ll try to keep the sarcasm to a minimum. First, Green and Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez released...
Continue ReadingLet’s Talk About Tax, Baby. Let’s Talk About You And Me
Pew Charitable Trusts has joined the pile on of recent reports detailing just how screwed the city’s finances really are. A Pew report released yesterday looked at 13 major cities across the country and how each has responded to the economic downturn of the last two years. In short: With a whimper. Four of the 13 cities surveyed including Philadelphia are raising...
Continue ReadingSmall Business in a Big City
The gross-receipts tax is a business killer. Right? Right?! That’s the conventional wisdom. Mayor Nutter ran for office pledging do away with the tax. Currently, the business-privilege tax includes two parts: The gross-receipts portion, which collects .14% of all sales before taking into account expenses and other loses, and the net-profit tax, which charges...
Continue ReadingCouncilman Green Offers His Own Tax-Cutting Plan
We’ve got another tax contender. You’ve already heard plenty about the city’s $120 millionish budget deficit (Or $150 million, depends on who you talk to). Our leaders have been throwing out ideas to close it for several months now, hoping something sticks. To summarize: The Nutter administration proposed taxing soda and garbage collection. These measures...
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