The Philadelphia Wage Tax cannot be raised to help solve next year’s huge budget gap. The City Council was hinting that it might raise the tax as a way to generate extra money. But the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Heard in the Hall blog reports that the City’s Finance Director Rob Dubow informed Council that the city did not meet the criteria in state law that would allow Council to raise wage taxes without state approval.

If you haven’t been following the city budget that closely, this basically takes one of Council’s back up plans for approving a budget it favors.  Council leadership is currently pushing for a five-year “temporary” sales tax increase in Philadelphia as an alternative to Mayor Michael Nutter’s plan of two year’s of double-digit property tax hikes.