Council tries to SELL its own tax plan
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
By: Tom MacDonald
tmacdonald@whyy.org
Philadelphia City Council wants to eliminate Mayor Nutter's proposed property tax increase from the city budget. Council is offering an alternative, but experts question the substance of their proposals.
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The City Council proposal would replace the property tax hike with and extension of the one percent sales tax hike to five years. Councilwoman Marian Tasco says the city would borrow against projected income from the sales tax money in the final years of the plan.
Tasco: It seems a little more palatable to do that than to raise property taxes, which creates a burden on the people in my district and every district.
Uri Monson of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority says borrowing for operating expenses isn't a generally acceptable practice in government.
Monson: It should basically be an option of last resort, kind of like charging up groceries on your credit card or running up credit card debt.
Mayor Nutter agrees with Monson, but Tasco says there don't appear to be enough votes in Council to pass a property tax increase.