PICA: October wasn't as bad as previous, awful months | Philly

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

PICA: October wasn't as bad as previous, awful months

Things are bad. But maybe not as bad as they used to be.

That’s the cautious word from PICA, the state body which oversees Philadelphia’s finances.

The organization released its October report on city taxes yesterday. Though first quarter (July-October) tax receipts are down 5.6 percent from the same period last year, October’s numbers give some reason for hope. PICA reports that tax receipts last month were $600,000 higher than October of last year, mostly driven by better wage tax revenue, which increased by $4.4 million.

PICA says that this increase, along with strong showings by the earnings and net profits taxes, indicate that “the rate of decline in the tax base might be leveling off.” Not a rousing proclamation, but not awful, either.

The Business Privilege Tax also saw a first-quarter increase of 19.4 percent, indicating a recovery in business sales. And the realty transfer tax showed its smallest drop in over a year, declining 27.2 percent over last year. Though that steep of a drop is, of course, bad, it's better than the year-over-year declines of 41 to 47 percent the city saw in the final three quarters of FY '09. Basically, things are getting worse more slowly.

Though PICA cautions that one good month doesn’t equal a trend, the agency does sound hopeful that the city’s economy may have begun to turn the corner.

You can read a PDF of the report here.

Review city services on our sister site, City Howl.

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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.

Doron Taussig is the Project Manager for “It's Our Money.” He is also a graduate student in communications at Temple University. Previously he worked as a Staff Writer and News Editor for the Philadelphia City Paper.

Dave Merrell is the Web Editor for "It's Our Money." He comes to the project from Philly.com, where he is a web producer. Originally from upstate New York, he moved to Philadelphia after graduating from Haverford College with a degree in math and economics.

Anthony Campisi reports and blogs for "It's Our Money." Originally hailing from Central Jersey, he came to Philadelphia while a student at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied intellectual history. He also writes about transportation for PlanPhilly, an innovative urban planning website started by PennPraxis, the consulting arm of the Penn School of Design.