With a poverty rate of 25 percent - 36 percent among children - Philadelphia is racing toward a precipice. Unless we get a handle on the underlying challenges, poverty will continue to climb, with the potential to top 50 percent by 2050.

But rather than chart such a new course, the final report of the Mayor's Task Force on Tax Policy and Economic Competitiveness largely rehashes the recommendations of the 2003 Tax Reform Commission, propounding generic, supply-side approaches that are not fine-tuned to Philadelphia's unique challenges and opportunities.

The task force's main proposal is to restart and accelerate reductions to the wage and business-privilege taxes, as suggested by the 2003 commission, and replace some of the lost revenue by increasing property taxes. The report cites research showing that incremental wage-tax reductions have preserved 25,000 jobs since 1996. But it fails to note that the poverty rate increased during the same period, from 20.3 percent in 1990 to 24.5 percent in 2007.

Tax cuts are not a silver bullet. Philadelphia needs comprehensive tax policy that is tailored to the local economy and workforce. City Council has been at work on such a policy. For example, Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez and I have proposed changes to the gross-receipts portion of the business tax - proposals the task force failed to analyze rigorously.

As I testified to the task force, our preliminary analysis shows that a revenue-neutral shift from a net-income to a gross-receipts tax would benefit both small and service-sector businesses - segments key to Philadelphia's future. Los Angeles has adopted this approach.

Eliminating the gross-receipts tax, by contrast, would benefit non-Philadelphia businesses that merely sell into Philadelphia markets. Under the task force's plan, these companies would have no business-privilege-tax liability by 2025, while Philadelphia-based companies would still be paying a 6 percent net-income tax.

As to the task force's assertion that its proposals will create 23,000 new jobs by 2025, the question is: Who will be filling these jobs? Without fundamental school reform, it will not be Philadelphians.

It will take until 2123 for every child in the city to be at grade level in reading and math at the current rate of improvement, as The Inquirer has reported. Unless we fundamentally reform our school system to retain our middle-class population and provide residents with the skills to earn a living wage, Philadelphia's future remains grim.

The task force's report acknowledges the importance of education but concludes that "it can take years or decades to see the economic benefits from improvements to our educational system." Given that 60 percent of local property-tax revenue goes to the school district, the proposition that the task force's charge excludes education rings hollow. The task force's call for an effective 30 percent property-tax increase over the next 15 years could have been framed as a way to fund innovative, effective initiatives in our schools. But the task force explicitly disavows this approach.

The task force's report contains many important recommendations, including making long-overdue investments in technology to bring increased efficiency and productivity to city government, as well as fundamentally reforming the property-tax assessment and appeals process - issues I have been championing in City Council.

But the stakes are too high for us to pursue only tried and true recommendations. I look forward to working with Council, the administration, and the task force to implement those proposals that will serve the city best and to develop more comprehensive, serious reforms. Every day we fail to take action brings us closer to the precipice.

Bill Green is a Philadelphia city councilman at large.