It's Our Money is asking advocates and citizens to weigh in on the budget deal Council is reportedly considering. This installment comes from Anthony E. Oliver, a human and prisoners’ rights advocate and an assistant editor for the Pennsylvania Prison Society. He is also co-Chair for the Coalition for Essential Services. If you'd like to write a BtB, email dtaussig@phillynews.com.
The Mayor and Council are reportedly close to a deal to balance the city’s budget. The plan will apparently include a property tax hike, some new tobacco taxes, and higher trash collection fees for small businesses.
We can do better.
With many homeowners now struggling to pay their mortgages, any property tax increase would make it harder for them to stay in their homes.
Plus, with a 10-year tax abatement that provides huge giveaways to big developers, as well as a tax-exempt status possessed by large universities that enables them to pay nothing even as they increase their real estate holdings, a property tax increase on those who can least afford it doesn't seem fair.
The Coalition for Essential Services (CES) has put forward an alternative that would raise substantial revenue by reforming the Gross Receipts Tax (GRT), to shift the tax burden off of small local businesses and onto big corporations who have avoided paying their fair share.
The city’s GRT is supposed to raise revenue from big corporations, but has been cut by over two-thirds since 1988.
The CES proposal would roll back the GRT to its 1996 level, but exempt small businesses (those that make less than $500,000 a year). This would stimulate the local economy and create jobs.
Of course, any proposal that burdens big business will have its opponents (such as big business, and the Chamber of Commerce). But we need a City Council with the courage to come up with a solution that doesn’t put the tax burden on those least able to pay - and the people of Philadelphia will need the courage to stand up and say: Put Philadelphia first, not big business.
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Great post Anthony! It's also worth mentioning that the CES proposal would raise $75 million from the GRT while exempting 73,000 small businesses from it entirely. That would obviously be much fairer than putting the burden of maintaining essential services -- many of which directly benefit big businesses -- on the backs of small property owners. Regular people who own homes in neighborhoods are already being treated unfairly due to improper assessments and tax abatements for the rich.— Stan Shapiro- How can we overlook the huge amount of money owed the city? It discredits this advocate to ignore that the city is owed $500 million in overdue property taxes, much of it on property that is vacant or empty. The census is even trying to find if someone is living there to count them. But this stuff is empty, in probate, or it should be in probate but the owners are not able to do it. This is stuff that has to be sold at sheriff sale and renovated, and sold to paying owner who contributes in real time to the paying property tax base. That process can't be completely halted. Then there is the $1 billion in forfeit bail owed the city by court no shows. That really needs a professional, competent, nonpolitical attempt at real collection. None of that has been tried even. The Office of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions doesn't even use computers! It's irresponsible of any advocate who would want to give credence to his cause to ignore that money and the need for professionalized, unbiased collection but call for raising taxes on businesses, when the business only has to leave Philly altogether to completely avoid our unique wage taxes and GRT. Taxing gross receipts is why my friends who just graduated from the best schools in the country can't find jobs right now -- the start ups that would love to hire them don't locate here, because of a tax on gross receipts even if the net is a loss for the first couple of years. Time to wake up and get smart -- taxing business costs real jobs.— CleanupPhilly
- If we're not talking about real numbers, we're talking in circles. Tax abatements cost the city about I think $40 million according to Patrick Kerkstra's coverage of the issue, please correct me if I'm wrong. Overdue property taxes languishing unexposed to sheriff sale cost the city $500 million, and not collecting overdue bail costs $1 billion. This can't be a simple partisan argument -- we have to get the money from where the money is. The money needed is not going to come from ending abatements, and the slowing of the growth in the paying tax base makes it not worth it. You have to do the math, folks. It's fine to be liberal, but it's foolish to not crunch the numbers. The growth in the paying property tax base pays dividends that make the small cost of the program worth it.— CleanupPhilly
- The Coalition for Essential Services is one of many "tax, spend, borrow, default, repeat" groups that would rather tax the entities that want to come here, but don't dare. You have to soak in the concept that these are the people who actually provide jobs to your clients. You have taxed those jobs out of the city. Look at City Line Avenue. There are businesses on the north west side, and few on the other. That is the result of this dated concept that you can always tax business in an unlimited fashion with no consequence on real people who need jobs. You have to face that you live, and your clients live, in a market economy. If you can't provide them with the cradle to grave socialism, then you have a responsibility not to drive out the providers of the jobs they need.— CleanupPhilly
- Cleanup, wakeup. No one wants the vast bulk of the property that's tax delinquent. Development is just not happening right now. As to the bail money, it's owed largely by people who are penniless. As to the GRT, you are spouting Chamber of Commerce propaganda. The GRT is paid by all businesses that have minimal contacts with the City and sell goods or services here. Coors beer and Apple Computer pay (or should pay) that tax. It also captures tax from big businesses located here that evade the net income tax altogether and would otherwise pay nothing. And please don't just ignore this in your rote denunciations of the GRT: CES proposes to exempt your startup companies from the tax, at least until they have $500,000 in sales. We could do that, and roll back recent tax cuts on bigger businesses only, and still raise $75 million.— Stan Shapiro
- Cleanup, the only ones who have the benefits of cradle to grave socialism in this country are the big corporations who have bought the bulk of our politicians and reaped the rewards. Defense industries will never go broke because we will be fighting the Cold War, and you and I will be paying for it, forever even though it ended 20 years ago. Corporate profits have been booming while millions have lost their jobs. We need to get our fair share of these profits to enable normal people who have been thrown to the curb to get back on their feet. And to preserve the simple things that make living in a City bearable and worthwhile. That's what CES is about and what it's GRT proposal is about.— Stan Shapiro
- NO NEW TAXES, TILL THE CITY COLLECTS UNPAID TAXES DUE, AND UNPAID BAIL PAYMENTS!!!! MAKE IT A RALLY CRY FOR THE ELECTIONS COMING UP!!!! THROW THE WORTHLESS PATRONAGE HACKS OUT OF OFFICE!!!— Dadair1
- ALL CAPS SHOW THAT YOU CAN SHOUT! THEY DON'T SHOW THAT YOU CAN THINK!!!— Stan Shapiro
- What's interesting is that at no time has CES proposed no new taxes, and that the new taxes that were proposed, i.e. the sugar and trash taxes, we've openly opposed, as they would disproportionately affect the poor and middle class. CES has also proposed eliminating taxes for small businesses to stimulate the local economy. There are over 70,000 small businesses in Philadelphia that represent approximately 84 percent of the companies who pay the GRT. Regarding tax abatements - no one in their right mind would openly admit that the rich don't have to pay real estate taxes, but the poor do. And no one would say that the poor have to give up city services that they are being taxed for, but the rich are entitled to them without cost. I do't want to be a conspiracy theorist, however, some disinformation and propaganda has been thrown into the argument - or at least some ignorant thought. I'll let the guilty parties choose.— Anthony46
MONEY AND JUSTICE DON'T MIX
WILL THE NEW COUNCIL GIVE YOU A SAY?
Tips? Comments? Questions?
Contact:
Doron Taussig:
215-854-5307
doron.taussig@gmail.com
@dorontaussig
Holly Otterbein:
215-854-5809
hm.otterbein@gmail.com
@hollyotterbein
Juliana Reyes:
215-854-5855
juliana.f.reyes@gmail.com
@juliana_f_reyes
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