How Will Trash Fee Affect Your Bottom Line?
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How Will Trash Fee Affect Your Bottom Line?
Catherine Lucey and Bob Warner
In one fell swoop, the city’s proposed $300 trash fee will eat up more than half the money that an average Philadelphia household is saving from the small, incremental wage tax reductions that the city initiated in 1992.
The mean average income for a Philadelphia household was $50,673 annually in 2008, according to the U. S. Census Bureau. Wage taxes on that income are now 3.9296 percent, or $1,991 per year, a savings of $522 from what the same household would have paid before the wage tax reductions began.
Mayor Nutter and City Council suspended the wage tax reductions two years ago at the beginning of the national recession, but they are scheduled to resume in the 2014 fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2013.
Comments (30)
Comment removed.
People are going to start just dumping their trash all over the place. Nutter must have fell and bumped his head you think anyone in north philly is going to pay that, they don`t even pay water or gas. He is F**KING NUTS!!!!— ANDY1974- Does addinga new fee that will require more workers and more overhead to manage make sense. I don't think so and I voted for him. I am disappointed in his record to date bad economy or not.— lane103
- Comment removed.
- I would like to see the City to collect back taxes from employees of City Council.and from State and Federal agencies who owe back taxes.Stop the rebate system for Million Dollar homes and apartments.— spider1776
- foreclosure11, we are paying for trash pickup now. It is part of our taxes. I thought the extra sales tax would solve everthing. What next???????????????????????
- This is a great point. Thank you. Especially since this is all an elaborate and inefficient work-around to avoid Nutter going back on how he made his name, advocating tax cuts in the last recession which he promptly suspended in the next one when it was his responsibility.— anodyne
- Where do the 3 guy's riding in a trash truck go at 9pm at nite? Pickin up your trash ? not mine , these aren't private but ours , do they have a side business ? one less pu a week saves . the old guy's got the job done and also cleaned up if they dropped things . the new gang 's too busy. today i saw one at 2:15 sittin in the park off 9th and blvd. enjoyin life. stop the abuse and work for what you get paid for or privitize the job!— nechs 72
- @ foreclosure11: $300/year IS a ripoff if it's $300/year ON TOP OF WHAT I ALREADY PAY. Your argument is that $300 covers these costs, but this is an ADDITIONAL $300. How is it that my property taxes covered the cost of trash collection last year, but now, due to mismanagement of the city's finances, I need to pony up an additional $300? Did the cost of collecting trash go up $300 in the last year? The city needs to collect the $500.000.000 in outstanding property taxes and the $1,000,000,000 in outstanding bail fees before raising taxes on those who obey the law and actually pay their taxes. Start seizing and selling properties. This new tax punishes those who pay their taxes, instead of punishing those who DON'T pay their taxes. And what are the repercussions for the government officials who are failing to collect these fees? @ 007: I agree with you 100%. We're leaving as soon as we can.— fatandlazy
- The worst part about being hit over the head with this fee is that NOTHING WILL CHANGE. The streets won't be any cleaner. Crime won't go down. The city won't hire more cops. Trash collection won't be any better. We'll all end up paying for money, and not a damn thing will change.— fatandlazy
- Can we get the state to revoke the city's Home Rule Charter so we can be taxed like the rest of the state?— Falls Ed
- Thank you for taxing the people who already pay taxes for the same services. Perhaps you should enact a flushing tax. North and West Philly won't flush, but those who do because it smells otherwise get taxed. A fantastic idea!— BlairW
- Nutter.. you want to show you have guts.. how about you have real guts and fight the unions!!! That is the real plague on this city.— Freddy
- foreclosure11, we already pay for trash pickup with some of the highest taxes in the entire country. Don't be fooled. This money isn't going to trash collection--it's going into the general city fund to cover pensions and bloated employee payrolls. Why isn't the city collecting taxes in the first place? We wouldn't be in this mess if people weren't allowed to sit on a $5,000 property tax debt like my neighbors, or $3,000 like the absentee landlord down the street.— phillyskyline
- Blair, I live in West Philly and I pay my taxes, but thanks.— phillyskyline
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Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns. E-mail tips to brennac@phillynews.com
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
Follow Dave on Twitter.
Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
Follow Sean on Twitter
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