Expecting a tax-policy task force to recommend something other than cutting taxes would be like counting on the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board to champion orange juice.

On Friday, the Mayor’s Task Force on Tax Policy & Economic Competitiveness did recommend resuming wage and business privilege tax cuts in 2012. To close a widening budget gap, the Nutter administration halted scheduled reductions last fall.

To those in the business community, this is a no-brainer. Reduce the burden from some of the nation’s highest taxes and business is more likely to view Philadelphia as competitive.

But tax-cut opponents say that nearly 13 years of such trimming under the Rendell, Street and now Nutter administrations has not halted the job drain. Why, they wonder, would these cuts be any different?

They may not be, which no one wants to hear. But to raise business taxes or do nothing to improve the ’50s-era system we’re stuck with now is destined to accelerate job losses.

Cuts in the wage tax since 1996 saved the city 25,000 jobs, according to research by Wharton finance professor Robert Inman. Still, employment in the city had fallen to 633,461 by the end of 2008.

Chaired by PRWT Services Inc. CEO Harold T. Epps, the task force projects that the city would save 47,000 jobs and gain 23,000 more by 2025 if the city were to implement its suggestions. That would be a 180-degree turn for a city employment base that’s plunged steadily since 1970 when 920,400 labored here.

We’ve all heard these ugly statistics, and Center City Renaissance aside, we see the result every day in decaying industrial hulks and empty storefronts in fraying neighborhoods.

High taxes, while one of the biggest disincentives, is only one cracked piston in the city’s economic engine. There’s the unfairness of property assessment of the Board of Revision of Taxes. The technology used to ensure tax compliance and collection is obsolete. About 15 percent of the city’s taxable properties are tax delinquent - more than 80,000.

To its credit, this task force handed Mayor Nutter a to-do list of items that his administration could implement without the hurdle of needing City Council approval. The mayor promised a review of the report’s recommendations.

But as the private-sector members of the panel lined up for a photo with the mayor in City Hall on Friday, I couldn’t help feeling that this would be another report that will do a slow fade from memory as the Tax Reform Commission’s did in 2003.

“Thinking Beyond Today: A Path to Prosperity” is a nice enough title for a government-sponsored report. But it’s no call to action, and given the enormous budgetary pressures on the city, I’m afraid it will be easy for the political class to ignore it.

Knowing what needs to be done is important. Still, it’s only a bunch of words until Mayor Nutter actually demonstrates that Philadelphia is changing to become a fairer, clearer and more efficient place for business operate.

Read an executive summary of the task force's work here or the full report here.

Earnings

This week will see an avalanche of quarterly reports from area companies. You really will need a scorecard, so here it is:

Monday: Liberty Property Trust, Sunoco Logistics Partners, Triumph Group;

Tuesday: Ametek, Carpenter Technology, Cephalon, NutriSystem Inc., Quaker Chemical, Sun Bancorp, Teleflex, Vishay Intertechnology;

Wednesday: Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Brandywine Realty Trust, FMC, GlaxoSmithKline, GSI Commerce, Harleysville Group, InterDigital, Lincoln National, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, SAP, Unisys, ViroPharma;

Thursday: Adolor, Airgas, AstraZeneca, Bryn Mawr Bank, CDI, eResearchTechnology, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Harleysville National, ICT Group, National Penn Bancshares, PPL, TF Financial, Universal Health Services;

Friday: Abington Bancorp, Dollar Financial, Dorman Products, EnerSys, Quigley, Safeguard Scientifics.

This had been the week that the Mayor’s Task Force on Tax Policy & Economic Competitiveness was originally due to provide its recommendations on how to improve the business climate in Philadelphia.

However, Mayor Nutter has given the 17-member group an extension to Oct. 15. (Will Pennsylvania and Philadelphia have their budgets settled by then?)

But if you just can’t wait to read a report that tells city officials what they should do, but have lacked the will to pursue in the past, I recommend the Committee of Seventy’s “Tackling True Reform” report.

While the watchdog group certainly hopes that its call to pursue innovative policies inspires public officials to act, I found the examples of bureaucratic inertia and political muscle-flexing providing new reasons for businesses to think twice about locating in the city.

The report really is a challenge to Nutter to wield the reformer’s sword he flashed so effectively during his campaign.

The mayor still seems to receive enthusiastic applause when he drops in on business events. But, as the Committee of Seventy writes, Philadelphia is “no more business-friendly than it was during the years when John Street - who was often perceived as being anti-business - was mayor.”

Steel Yourself

Concord Steel Inc. has closed its factory in Essington, Delaware County.

The company had announced a layoff there earlier this year, but its business, which specialized in making steel counterweights, was walloped by a drop-off in orders from customers in the infrastructure, construction and residential sectors.

Warren, Ohio-based Concord filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 on Monday. The move came after the manufacturer had gutted its workforce companywide by 75 percent over the last 18 months, cut salaries, and tried to modify its credit agreement.

Concord, which was bought by Stamford Industrial Group Inc. for $45.2 million in October 2006, said it eliminated 93 jobs by closing the Essington factory at the end of August and making permanent previously temporary layoffs at its plants in Ohio and Illinois.

The federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program convinced many consumers to part with thousands of dollars, helped car makers move new metal, and got gas guzzlers off the road.

So, people wonder, can such success be replicated with other products?

We’ll find out this fall with a program that will provide federal rebates to people who buy energy-efficient appliances, such as freezers and refrigerators, or new heating and cooling systems.

The big difference is that Cash for Clunkers was a $3 billion program, while “Pennies for ’Pliances” (think it’ll stick?) commands only $300 million in funding. Also, the states are in charge of deciding which products will qualify for a rebate.

You can see how programs like these play into the Obama administration’s goal of prodding us into using less energy.

But where does it end? I’m not sure I want a Cash for Clunkers II program in 2010, as some do.

Instead, should we shower millions on “Fat Checks for Flat Screens” to replace those 52-inch wall-mounted TVs we bought two years ago with their more energy-efficient cousins?

How about “Slip ‘n Slides for Swimming Pools” to decrease the proliferation of water-hogging in-ground pools? That’s $35 for something made by Wham-O compared with thousands of dollars sunk into a pool, a gate, a deck, and inner tubes.

Or a “Simoleans for Stilettos” program that could encourage men and women to buy some sensible shoes? Buyers would have to agree to walk to the corner Starbucks, not drive. And manufacturers would have to certify their boots really are made for walking.

Soaring Subaru

Speaking of Cash for Clunkers, Subaru of America Inc. was a big winner, judging by its August sales.

The Cherry Hill-based automaker reported sales of 28,683 vehicles, up 52 percent from 16,573 vehicles sold in August 2008. Subaru said that made August its best sales month ever.

The question now: Was August as good as it gets?

Could be. August 2008 was the high-water mark for Subaru in 2008. Sales tailed off for the next three months, until it got a bump in December.

The often raucous health-care reform town halls may have grabbed a lot of attention, but both sides of the debate over climate-change legislation pending in Washington are ramping up their own PR machines.

On Thursday, a group called Energy Citizens will hold a rally for jobs and affordable energy in Chester. It is one of 19 stops for this dog and pony show, which started in Houston Aug. 18.

Organizers say the goal is to give “voice to Americans’ concerns” about the impact that cap-and-trade legislation, passed by the House of Representatives in June, would have on jobs and businesses.

So now you know how the energy-industrial complex spent its summer.

The “energy” in the group’s name comes from many of the organizations behind the PR campaign: the American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and the Mid Atlantic Petroleum Distributors’ Association.

But all sorts of business lobbying groups are involved, including the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry, the Pennsylvania Coal Association, even the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

Together, they’re expending a lot of energy and money to counter a 22-state “Made in America” jobs tour organized by the Alliance for Climate Protection, the climate-change group started by Al Gore, and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership between labor unions and environmental groups. They’re on tour now and expected to stop in Philadelphia later this month.

And you thought it wasn’t an election year.

Next chapter

The Reader’s Digest version of the iconic magazine’s current financial state is that its parent company is in bankruptcy.

There’s a lot of that going around in the publishing world.

But Peggy Northrop, editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest, said she’s confident that the prepackaged bankruptcy filing will enable the Pleasantville, N.Y., publisher of 94 magazines to emerge quickly with a lot less leverage on its back.

Raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of Washington, Pa., Northrop comes from a publishing family that has owned and run the Observer-Reporter newspaper for generations.

Having piled up the accolades for her revamping of More magazine, aimed at women over 40, Northrop was hired in November 2007 to shake up Reader’s Digest.

It worked. Reader’s Digest won the top award for magazines over 2 million in circulation in April - its first win in the 44 years the American Society of Magazine Editors has been issuing the awards.

Since then, there has been less to celebrate. The magazine cut its circulation guarantee to advertisers to 5.5 million from 8 million. Once monthly, Reader’s Digest’s frequency was cut to 10 issues a year.

Yesterday, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that Reader’s Digest lost 3.4 percent of its circulation for the first half of 2009. Its circulation is still above 8 million.

The Internet is a disruptive technology that’s changing so many business models, including publishing. But Northrop contends that at its start in the 1920s, Reader’s Digest gained its own reputation as a disruptive force, aggregating and condensing books and articles.

It’s a point of pride with her the phrase “Reader’s Digest version” retains its power in the era of Wikipedia, which offers online Reader’s Digest versions of so many topics. “We need to own that phrase again,” she said.

And no, “Bellylaughs from Bankruptcy Court” will not be added to “Humor in Uniform” as regular feature.
 

Add Pennsylvania’s coal-mine operators to those in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky who oppose the climate-change legislation pending in Washington.

The 26 member companies of the Pennsylvania Coal Association voted unanimously at its Aug. 19 annual board meeting to oppose the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which passed the House of Representatives and is before the Senate.

While environmental groups have been critical of some of the amendments made as being too favorable to the coal industry, the mine operators and mine workers union see the legislation as the biggest threat to their livelihood.

Let’s face it, the coal industry will have a tough time rallying public support for its position.

However, it does wield some daunting statistics to make its case, such as 56 percent of the electricity generated in Pennsylvania comes from coal. In Ohio and Kentucky, coal accounts for more than 90 percent.

What could Pennsylvania, the fourth-largest coal producing state, adopt to replace it? Solar, wind, nuclear, perhaps. But can Pennsylvania power producers really build enough of those by 2025 to reduce its dependence on coal?

“There are no short-term alternatives for coal as a source of electricity,” said George Ellis, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Association.

Coal is not a clean energy, so it’s no wonder that the climate-change bill seeks to limit its use. But the coal industry argues that it’s a plentiful energy source at a time when politicians are speechifying about the need to the United States to gain its “energy independence.” That’s independence from foreign oil, not foreign coal.

So what’s left of King Coal has spoken in Harrisburg. We’ll see if anyone other than Sen. Arlen Specter and Sen. Bob Casey hears their grumbling in Washington.

Quotable

There’s no guarantee with turnarounds. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, or they work and sometimes they don’t work as well as you’d like.

- James P. Fogarty, CEO of Charming Shoppes Inc., yesterday discussing the ongoing overhaul of its Fashion Bug retail chain.

If you’ve noticed an extra $10 or so in your take-home pay recently, that’s not an act of benevolence by your boss.

It’s this year’s version of economic stimulus. Last year, the Bush administration mailed out rebates. This year, the Obama administration has adjusted payroll withholding tables.

So instead of getting one lump sum from the IRS, you’ll be seeing larger amounts in your paycheck all year long.

Why do it this way? Those who study economic-stimulus efforts say we’re more likely to spend an extra 10 bucks rather than a $300 check.

A paper by economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the University of Michigan estimates we spent only one-third of the $107 billion of the 2008 rebates. The rest we either saved or used to pay down debt.

So now the federal government is trying to stoke consumer spending through the payroll-tax system.

As of yesterday, all employers had to lower their workers’ tax withholding as part of the “Making Work Pay” tax credit. That means each individual worker will see $400 extra in his or her net pay this year and next. Married taxpayers get $800.

There are exceptions. If you work but also receive Social Security or veterans’ benefits, your tax credit will be cut by $250. That’s because you will get a one-time $250 “Economic Recovery” payment in May.

The tax credit begins to phase out for those with $75,000 or more in adjusted gross income. Make more than $95,000 and you’ll get nothing. (Income thresholds for married couples are $150,000 and $190,000.)

The White House estimates that 4.8 million families in Pennsylvania will get $2.5 billion from the credit. In New Jersey, 3.2 million families will get $1.7 billion.

One thing to watch out for: If you have more than one job, or if you’re married and both of you work, you may want to file a new Form W-4 with your employer.

Why? With multiple employers upping your take-home pay, you could receive more than $400 and wind up writing a check to the IRS next year.

The IRS Web site has a “withholding calculator.” Also read Publication 919 for more about filling out a Form W-4.

In this week of political outrage, Gov. Rendell vented over Sunoco Inc.’s plan to eliminate 750 jobs from its salaried workforce.

His two-page letter yesterday to the directors of the Philadelphia oil refiner and marketer implores them to do the right thing, second-guess their CEO and halt the job cuts.

Sunoco is so profitable it doesn’t need layoffs, Rendell says.

So money-losing companies are allowed to reduce their workforces, but those that make money should not?

Well, Sunoco’s $776 million in 2008 net income is quite a gusher of money. But Sunoco’s not the only big local employer to make some serious coin and still cut its workforce.

GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., which no longer calls Philadelphia a U.S. headquarters but employs about 4,700 here, reported net income of about $8.7 billion in 2008.

But it has cut 10,000 people worldwide since December 2007, which just happens to coincide with the start of the U.S. recession - and now plans to cut another 7 percent of its global workforce of 100,000 over the next two years.

Using the Rendellian logic, these cuts smack of making a “profitable company more profitable.” Where does CEO Andrew Witty get off trying to do that?

Meanwhile Comcast Corp. eliminated 3,000 jobs nationwide last year, while downloading net income of $2.5 billion. But certainly Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen - Rendell’s former mayor chief of staff - won’t be getting a letter or public scolding.

No, it’s far more appealing to shame those in charge of a dirty enabler of global warming rather than the enlightened programmers that bring us “World Extreme Cagefighting” on TV. Oil companies are easy to pick on because nobody likes them.

The governor is questioning Sunoco’s sense of civic responsibility at a time of extreme pain for the economy. But should he? After all, the company has been the title sponsor of the city’s 10-day Fourth of July celebration for 16 years.

And the company engaged in one of the biggest infrastructure reinvestment projects Philadelphia has seen when it spent $520 million to expand and upgrade a fluid catalytic cracker in 2007.

Plus, a previous management team of the company chose to move the company’s headquarters from Radnor into Center City in the early ’90s, - though that was part of a previous major restructuring of the company that involved job cuts.

How dare Sunoco strive to become more efficient and more profitable. Clearly, this is not the time for that in America.

The leadership of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce continues to support Mayor Nutter's choices on his budget.

But should the debate over the budget turn to increasing the wage or business privilege taxes, the chamber made it clear in a statement that it would fight such moves.

Chamber president and CEO Mark Schweiker said:

While we think it’s important for there to be a full discussion and debate around the Mayor’s proposed budget, we want to be clear up front that Philadelphia’s business community will strongly oppose any increases in the Wage or Business Privilege taxes.

The city could not "absorb the blow that higher wage taxes would inflict," Schweiker said.

Here's the link to the full statement.

Every year, I intend to tackle my taxes early. Every year, I find myself where I am now: just starting with less than a month to go.

The good news for those of you in the same situation is that this Saturday you can get free help from IRS offices and various volunteer sites around the area.

The key is you have to earn $42,000 or less to qualify for free tax-return preparation.

Between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., the IRS will have employees available at the following taxpayer assistance centers: 600 Arch St., Philadelphia; 601 S. Henderson Rd., King of Prussia; 801 Old York Rd., Jenkintown; and 57 Haddonfield Rd., Cherry Hill.

Help is also available through various community groups on Saturday, such as the Campaign for Working Families, which is managed by the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition. It will have nine sites around the city.

I’ve posted a complete list on the PhillyInc blog here. You can also go to the IRS' Web site here and click on the link that says “Find Free Help on Saturday.” If you don’t have a computer, call 1-800-906-9887 to find a tax-prep location near you.

Make sure you bring a bunch of documents, including some form of valid photo identification and Social Security cards for everyone listed on your return.

Most taxpayers earning less than $42,000 aren’t going to be itemizing deductions, so they’ll be filling out Form 1040EZ or 1040A. That means the process should take only minutes, according to David Stewart, an IRS spokesman in Philadelphia.

Why should you consider going? Stewart said a variety of tax credits available to low-income taxpayers often go unclaimed.

The Campaign for Working Families says about 39,000 eligible working people in Philadelphia do not file for the Earned Income Tax Credit, which this year is worth up to $4,824. During the 2008 tax season, the group completed 13,500 tax returns and helped Philadelphia households collect $20 million in state and federal tax refunds.

There may be a line if you show up right at 9 a.m. Last year, Stewart said, it took about 90 minutes for IRS tax preparers to handle about 110 people who’d lined up early on the inaugural Super Saturday. After that, it was walk-up service for the rest of the day, he said.

If you can get your taxes done quickly and for free, I’d call that a Super Saturday.