Nutter lobbies for sales tax increase, but passage is not certain | Philly

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Nutter lobbies for sales tax increase, but passage is not certain

Mayor Nutter is lobbying hard for sales tax increase

Link: As Nutter lobbies, sales-tax hike looks very iffy [Daily News]

Still, a Daily News straw poll of the city's Harrisburg delegation shows that many local members are wavering on the sales-tax increase. We reached out to the 33 Philly members of the state House of Representatives and state Senate with this question:

If a vote were held today on Philadelphia's temporary sales-tax increase, would you be a yes, no or undecided?

A total of 18 responded - 7 said yes, 2 no and 7 were undecided. State Sen. Vincent Hughes said that he was "leaning yes" and state Rep. Kenyatta Johnson declined to comment.

Those in favor largely said that they would vote yes because the alternative was so much worse.

"The mayor says he needs it," said Rep. Ronald G. Waters. "If we don't do it, I'm afraid of what that means."

Rep. Mike O'Brien, who is opposed, said that he'd prefer to see the city use gaming revenues to plug the budget gap. Though the city has said that this isn't an option, O'Brien said that he wasn't convinced.

And the undecideds said that they are still mulling over the options - stressing that this is a complicated time in Harrisburg.

"I think it would depend on what the overall situation is in terms of our budget," said Rep. John Taylor, who added that he wasn't sure that the proposal to raise the sales tax had the votes. "Right now, if it came up today, it probably wouldn't be passed."

Posted by Ben Waxman @ 11:48 AM Permalink | 3 comments

Comments

Posted 12:58 PM, 07/01/2009

CleanupPhilly

Is it really surprising that passing a sales tax hike that puts Philly products at a higher price point than the surrounding regions would be the death knell for many businesses in a recession? Think of the appliance stores, the furniture stores, car dealerships, and other large ticket items that would have to move away or fold entirely. The city has to stop trying to kill business every time it wants more cash until we have row after row of boarded up businesses. We only just started to reverse that, now we are going to re-start boarding up the city shops again? Think it through.

Posted 03:02 PM, 07/01/2009

CleanupPhilly

It looks to me that a sales tax hike is not ever going to get out of the PA Senate. It's not "iffy" or "not certain." Why not simply say so? There's not a snowball's proverbial. So, what's next? When can we start talking about what to do now?

Posted 03:27 AM, 07/02/2009

FJG JR

I wouldn't want to be running for re-election, and be on this Yes list. Let's get them all.

3 comments

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Ben Waxman reports and blogs for “It's Our Money.” Before joining “It's Our Money,” he was a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Daily News op-ed page and former contributor to the blog Young Philly Politics. He studied political science at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA.

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