Media Push Need For Tax Reform And Ethics Reform

The Philadelphia (And National) Media Push Need For Tax Reform And Ethics Reform

The Philadelphia Inqurer offered an important editorial assaulting the job-killing Business Privilege Tax: KILL THIS BEASTLY BURDEN.  The editorial recounts the tales of neighborhood businesses chased out of the city by the terrible tax, rejects the argument that we cannot afford to enact tax reform, and calls on Council to act before we lose more jobs.  "The latest, five-year tax plan should be modest enough to reassure even Council members who began to buckle a bit in the face of Mayor Street's masterful manipulation of the politics of the city budget....In a city where millions are lost each year to the 'graft tax' caused by pay-to-play corruption, where patronage employees stuff the payrolls of authorities and agencies, where ill-advised subsidies go to the well-connected, where little is done to curb the cost of benefits for the huge city workforce, it's absurd to suggest the only way to find money for tax cuts is to punish the truly needy." (Full Editorial)

The cost of corruption in Philadelphia is high taxes and lost jobs.   When Inc. Magazine ranked Philadelphia as one of the 10 worst places in America to do business they said:

"The city's high business taxes, poor level of public services, crummy public schools, and reputation for political corruption continue to chase businesses to the neighboring suburbs." (Full Article)

There you have it...a corrupt government costs more, which keeps taxes high, which chases jobs and residents out.  In the coming weeks, we have the ability to address these twin ills.  First, we can pass tax reform legislation to phase out our job-killing Business Privilege Tax and then we can pass legislation to attack our culture of corruption. The Philadelphia Business Journal nicely connects the city's challenge to reform taxes, reform the governmental culture, and market itself in its latest editorial:  "The status quo is costly to taxpayers and a disincentive to businesses that want to be treated fairly." (Full Editorial)
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