Mayor Street Joins Call For Tax Reform

Today (March 5, 2004), Mayor Street told an audience of business leaders that he supports the tax reform vision of the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission.

In his statement before the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Mayor Street declared:

There can be no doubt about the need for a more rational, progressive and less onerous tax structure in Philadelphia. Our tax burden layered on an otherwise reasonable cost of living too often makes Philadelphia a tough choice even with all of the attributes and amenities of the city. We owe our businesses, residents and workers comprehensive tax reform that does not compromise the fiscal integrity of the City.

 

For example, it is important that we change the way we levy our business taxes. Instead of punishing businesses for doing business in the City by basing their business privilege tax liability on the amount of property and payroll they have in the City in addition to the level of sales they have, we should base that tax solely on sales. This change will remove a disincentive for firms to locate inside the City. We support the recommendation of the Tax Reform Commission to move to 100% annual real estate assessments and a gradual shift to land value taxation. The Commission report outlines numerous vital recommendations, which will improve, in a dramatic, way our business climate. We will take the work of the Tax Reform Commission as the blueprint for this difficult but necessary task.

 

Sustaining an aggressive tax reform agenda and achieving the Charter mandated balanced budget in this tough economy will require that my administration and City Council make some tough decisions. The next two fiscal years are going to demand sacrifice in order to achieve both tax reform and tax reduction. We must confront these very serious issues in an environment of respect, cooperation and candor.