City cracks down on tax-delinquent pensioners
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City cracks down on tax-delinquent pensioners
This is the kind of thing you expect to see in a muckraking article about the city, rather than a press release from the city, but it just popped up in our inbox, from City Hall:
Currently, the City of Philadelphia has 33,000 pensioners and beneficiaries receiving pension benefits. Of that, approximately 2,500 owe $12.9 million to the City in delinquent taxes.
We already knew that the city had a problem with city employees who owe back taxes. Turns out some former employees have fallen out of tax compliance, too, and they owe a big chunk of change.
The purpose of the press release was to announce a crackdown on these folks. The city recently sent a letter to all pension recipients who owe taxes, which likely arrived at most of their homes on Saturday or Monday, according to spokesman Mark McDonald. The letter explained the pensioners' options for getting square with the city: They can pay up or enter an agreement to pay up over time. If they don't, the city can start deducting as much as 25% of their benefits from their checks. It can also publish their names on this website, where Bernard Hopkins points at them menacingly.
The average city pension was $18,363 last year, and the city says it will give "due consideration to ensure fair and affordable payment terms" for those with financial hardships. Given that, this seems like a clear proactive step for the city to take to help fill its coffers.
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so the average retirement age looks to be about 59, with an average pension of $18k. at age 59 the average life expectancy is about 26 yrs, so these vampires will each bleed the city for $1mm, on average, and we wonder why the pension system is going broke!
one word: 401(k)s— oliver north- Looks like not everyone agrees with your math Ollie - & it does look a little off. $18,300 a year times say 25 years is about 460k (1/2 a million) Still a ton of money & the city MUST make some REAL changes to the pension system. Either require more in contributions say 9 or 10% (instead of 5 or 6) &/0r go to the norm these days 401k's. But I wouldn't hold my breath. You'd need a Christie like politician in office & I don't see that happening in Philadelphia in our life time.
— Kennedy 
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- the retirement ages will be going up since the minimum age has been raised years ago, so the average age is deceiving — J T
- Average life expectancy in Philly is approximately 75. That is 16 years from the suggested average retirement age (59).
That's $312,171.
Need more data:
-How long has the average pensioner worked for the city?
-How long have they contributed to the pension fund?
-How much has the typical pensioner paid into the fund.
And then look at the rules. Just remember the former MDO Camille Barnett, who worked less than 5 years but "bought" other government time to qualify for a $59,000 pension for the rest of her life. Heck, think about being City council president for three years: Verna has received a bonus on her council pay check by holding that position. After 30 years with the city regardless of years with city council she would qualify for 80% of the average of her 3 highest years. Even at the regular pay scale her pension is over $100,000 per year for the rest of her life. Verna may be worth more than Barnett but is she worth $100,000 per year?— nebulus - This comment has been deleted.— GREEKPICNIC
- pal, they collect 18k/yr on average and will live, on average, another 26 yrs. that IS how the pension system works — oliver north
still waiting for the property tax man to start hammering the property tax scofflaws.- still waiting for the property tax man to start hammering the property tax scofflaws.
- Just another reason why the city is BROKE. People that derive their income from the city don't even honor their obligations. Their pension checks should be GARNISHED IMMEDIATELY. & if that sounds harsh, they should just be happy the city wouldn't further punish them with penalties/fees for intentionally beating the system. But of course this is Democratic run Philadelphia so NOTHING will be done. They'll just come to the tax payers AGAIN & AGAIN & AGAIN.— Kennedy
- Let's fce reality. The tax delinquent pensionees are not the 18k types. The real delinquents are the big monet pensionees, the DROP hogs, retired top management, etc, who are confident that their political connections will keep them getting away with being scofflaws. After all, they made a career of being scofflaws while they were in the city payroll, so why change?— DonQ
