Council asked to tax orchestra, theater tickets

Tickets to plays, musicals, symphonies, and operas in Philadelphia would be taxed at the 5 percent rate charged for sporting events, concerts, and movies under a proposal introduced in City Council yesterday.

Councilman Darrell L. Clarke's bill to eliminate a long-standing exemption to the city's amusement tax hit a sour note with the performing-arts community.

"The theater industry of Philadelphia is very concerned about the proposed legislation, and it will have a devastating impact on our ability to continue driving economic recovery in Philadelphia," said Margie Salvante, executive director of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, whose 120 organizations include 71 that perform mainly in Philadelphia.

The tax law exempts "legitimate theater shows" and organizations "conducted for the sole purpose of maintaining symphony orchestras, opera performances, and artistic presentations." Expanding it would hit the city's most established venues, most of them nonprofits, including the Kimmel Center, the Academy of Music, and the Walnut Street, Wilma, and Arden Theaters - perhaps even community theaters, advocates said yesterday.

The amusement tax is expected to bring in $18.4 million by the end of the fiscal year June 30. Clarke said he had yet to calculate how much more revenue the cash-strapped city could gain.

"Our concern is as we scour through all of our provisions to try to find ways of raising revenues, it doesn't appear that there's a legitimate reason for having that exemption," he said.

The reason is simple, said Julie Hawkins, vice president of public policy at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.

Theaters and orchestras "are given the exemption because they present a community service," Hawkins said. City performing-arts venues serve nearly 600,000 school-age children and 3.4 million customers and employ 9,000 people, she said, adding that the average $20 ticket costs about $40 to produce.

Though ticket sales have remained steady in the plummeting economy, Hawkins said, private donations have decreased and organizations are holding their breath for the next season's subscription sales.

"We're worried about it," she said. "They kind of run on a thin margin anyway."

The bill will be scheduled for a hearing in committee.

In other business yesterday, Council passed a zoning bill to allow developer Bart Blatstein to build a 14-story Temple University dormitory at his Avenue North complex at Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Clarke said the addition of a $50 million, 300-unit tower would be a boost to the area. "I am extremely happy that anything, particularly something of this magnitude, is getting built," he said. The project is in his district.

Council also unanimously approved a ballot initiative that calls for posthumously promoting police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. The honor would enhance benefits for survivors. The question will be put to voters in the May 19 primary as a change to the Home Rule Charter.

A bill to ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving, cycling, in-line skating, or riding a scooter was delayed a week after cosponsor Bill Greenlee offered some technical amendments. The bill should have a final vote next week.