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In an otherwise dismal report on city tax collections, the 2008 World Series champs brought the only bit of good news:
When the current fiscal year ends in June, total revenue from Philadelphia's amusement tax is projected to be higher than it has been in at least five years.
The tax - a 5 percent surcharge on the admission fee for concerts, movies, sporting events and more - was up 55 percent over last year for the months of October, November and December.
Overall, the amusement tax is expected to raise $18.4 million this fiscal year, slightly more than the $18 million generated last year.
The strong collections "reflect the success of the Phillies," wrote Uri Monson, executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, in a newly released update on city tax revenues. The authority oversees city finances.
Though tiny relative to other levies, the amusement tax is just about the only Philadelphia tax that has shown growth in recent months and that will produce more money than it did the previous year, according to the tax-revenue figures.
By contrast, the wage tax - the city's largest - is expected to bring in $1.13 billion, $58 million less than last year.
Similarly, the real-estate-transfer tax - levied when property is sold - is projected to generate $155 million, or $31 million less than last year. (Philadelphia has a 3 percent tax and the state levies an additional 1 percent, for a total of 4 percent.)
"The good news is on the tax that generates under $20 million a year," city Finance Director Rob Dubow said, referring to the amusement tax. "The bad news is pretty much everywhere else."
Generally speaking, he said, "The numbers underscore that our fiscal situation is continuing to deteriorate."
City finance experts have said Philadelphia's five-year budget shortfall could now be as much as $1.5 billion. In November, the mayor had pegged the gap at $1 billion, but said he expected it to grow. One of the reasons for the ever-increasing deficit is declining business-privilege-tax revenue. The latest collection figures will not be known until the spring.
Despite the decline over last year in wage-tax revenues, collections are actually holding steady in terms of what was expected.
"It's doing well, especially given the environment. And if we can hold that trend, it helps to mitigate the other [losses]," Monson said.
While property-tax revenues are not collected until the spring, the revenue report suggested that those collections may fall $10 million below projections for the year. The reason: Few new assessments were completed as the growth rate for new assessments was less than 1 percent.
Also foreboding trouble is the city sales tax, which had been up 4 percent through October, then, according to preliminary projections, fell 11 percent in November and 15 percent in December. Consequently, that tax is now expected to bring in $133 million this year, or $4 million less than last year. However, those figures are expected to change as additional sales revenue is collected and reported.
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