It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Philly's Budget Update: Focus Turns to Harrisburg
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 11:28 am - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Budget.
The Mayor and City Council in Philadelphia hope that yesterday’s budget compromise will give them a “unified voice” as they seek state legislative approval for key components of the city spending plan.
State Approval Needed to:
Allow the City of Philadelphia raise its sales tax one penny for five years.
Allow the City to delay contributions into its workers’ pension fund for two years.
Allow the City to extend pension payments out over 40 30 years instead of 20 years.
City leaders were warned last month that they had better reach a compromise before seeking State approval. In a mid-April City Council leaders, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and PA. State Representative Dwight Evans all met to discuss Philly’s options. Evans, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, reportedly said the only way Philly would get any serious consideration of its budget requests would be, if Council and the Mayor came to Harrisburg with a “unified voice.”
City Council President Anna Verna was quoted in today’s Philadelphia Daily News saying “We will go to Harrisburg with one voice,” she said. “We are unified.”
The toughest battle for Philadelphia may come up in the State Senate which is controlled by Republicans. Democrats control the State House and Pennsylvania’s Governor is a Democrat.
While yesterday’s budget compromise was focused on the sales tax hike, and pension payment restructuring, what remains to be seen is what Council will do with the rest of the Mayor’s “Citizens’ Budget.” It did incorporate many of the big themes that came out of the budget workshops held by Penn and WHYY.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Ok so then we have a 8% sales tax???????
oh man I cant wait to move out of this bizarre world of Philadelphia.. Its insane to pay 8% what the heck just bump it to 10% and then all the city employees can have their own cars and the city can pay for their rent or mortgages too!
Or wait here’s an Idea ill stay in Philly raze the sales tax to what ever you want to and anyone who owns a car (or if the city gives you one) can drive to Delaware and buy all our products there with no that’s right ZERO sales tax and we can accelerate the global warming so to put us all out of our pain!
May 12th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
10%? Don’t laugh. They did it in Cook County/Chicago (”Oh, it’s just one more percentage point”), and the revolt has forced the legislature to back down. One viable threat? Secession from the county. http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=19150
It’s been a political disaster out there. I hope we can avoid that here.http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-stroger-tax-vetomay12,0,1944552.story
May 12th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Do you think most people pay that much attention to the sales tax rate? I know this is a regressive tax, but why are you both convinced that an 8% sales tax rate, with the suburbs most likely staying at 6%, will turn Philly into a post-apocalyptic landscape?
May 14th, 2009 at 9:32 am
No, Alan, no post-apocalyptic scenario. It is a fact that an overly high sales tax has adverse consequences; when they get high enough there are adverse political consequences. Cook County is in turmoil over thss issue
The people DO pay attention to the sales tax, though. How do I know? Delaware shopping malls exists in high densities because of Pennsylvania and Maryland choices on sales tax.
There is a noted and empirically quantified paucity of commerce in Massachusetts right below the New Hampshire border. Which state has the sales tax (one guess)? In fact, Massachusetts is strong-arming border businesses in New Hampshire to collect MA sales tax. New Hampshire’s Senate just passed a bill (http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2009/SB0005.html) to protect those businesses from this threat.
The great hope is that people don’t notice the sales tax; which is a cynical hope. Elected officials love them because they are so hidden. Yet, as you say, they are regressive, and in a poor city with poor people who don’t have the means to avoid the sales tax, it ends with poor people paying an undue burden of the budget gap. That’s not posturing, but how a sales tax works, and why its bad.
At eh national level, right-wing provocateurs like Neil Boortz push for a national sales tax, and that’s uncool, but in Philadelphia it’s a rescue scenario fora vulnerable community? Does not compute!
Reliance on sales tax has been - nationally - an indicator of an unfair tax system. The Deep South relies heavily on them. Other states ranking at the bottom of social and economic indicators (New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana) rely heavily on them. It’s just bad policy.
Philly is already in a world of trouble; much of the landscape IS abandoned. Relying more on a tax that tries to chase revenue across jurisdictional borders, and is already suffering from depleted revenues strikes me as not a wise choice.
Ooops, I wrote too much again!