The New York Times is running a story tonight on its website headlined “Philadelphia Mayor Plans Rise in Taxes.” Reporter Jon Hurdle quotes Mayor Michael Nutter from today’s interview on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane saying “We can’t just cut our way out of this situation.” The story also quotes from the final report on the budget workshops that shows residents are willing to pay higher taxes to avoid deep cuts in city services.

“Given a chance to confront the tough tradeoffs, most citizens opted to tax themselves — while struggling to give a tax break to those less fortunate,” said a report by the Project for Civic Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania, which organized the meetings.

Working groups concluded that residents would be prepared — though reluctant — to pay higher taxes on sales, wages, real estate transfers, businesses and parking, said the report, published late Monday.

Today’s story in the New York Times is a follow up from Hurdle’s earlier story on the civic engagement process being used in Philadelphia to inform the city as it prepares a much leaner budget for next year.  The city projects that tax revenues over the next 5 years are likely to come in $1billlion dollars below current spending levels.

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Doron Taussig @ City Paper writes Hot Damn: Nutter says He’s Going to Listen