Philly tax numbers say economy warming up

A new report shows tax revenues are really growing for the city of Philadelphia. 

City Controller Alan Butkovitz says he’s been monitoring the taxes being paid into the city and they’re showing signs the economy is improving.

“The most dramatic bit of news is the wage tax, earnings and net profits tax is up 13 percent over a year ago $156 million for the month of January.

We also see a drop in unemployment rate from 11.2 percent to 10.7 percent.”

Butkovitz says the collections have been going up in a year by year comparison for the past three months.  If that happens during the month of February, he says he would feel comfortable calling it a trend.