Mayor Michael Nutter and Philadelphia City Council have officially voted to increase the property tax here by 9.9%. Although Nutter's soda tax didn't cut the mustard and will probably not pass, this is no kind of victory for those of us who can see through what Council is doing.
The shady deal also includes a $150 increase in the trash collection fee for small businesses and landlords. This means higher rents for people in the city of Philadelphia at a time where most people are being relegated from home ownership by the terrible economy and forced to rent.
Chewing tobacco and other similar products are also being taxed after years of finding a way to be cheaper than cigarettes, which are nearly $10 a pack in some parts of the City.
Mayor Nutter and City Council have sent a resonating and clear message to hard-working and tax paying Philadelphians: We really don't want you here.
First of all, City Council's tax increases fall short of filling the $150 million deficit in the budget. Second of all, Philadelphia is now once again punishing people for being successful: those of us lucky enough to own a home will have to pay for the faults of others and the faults of the City.
Higher property taxes are wrong, sure - but they do imply a higher quality of life. Still, the streets are filled with trash and there are still neighborhoods, more like welfare states, like Kensington and North Philadelphia that take and take and take from the City without giving back. Taxpayers and intelligent people who have had enough are fleeing the City, allowing the cancer of the welfare state here to spread.
The trash collection fee makes no sense: people are being punished for not being able to afford private haulers. Basically the City is saying that if you purchase from a private hauler, you won't be taxed: this smells of the way Obama likes to run things. The City of Philadelphia is forcing people to purchase a private product or pay up.
Why couldn't Nutter & Council find $150 million in money they were wasting? Remember the City Council member whose name isn't worth mentioning that was taking trips to the islands on the City's dime with his "secretary"? How many other people in City Council are bilking the taxpayers and how many other employees are unnecessarily employed by the City?
How about taking a look at this DROP issue? Crossing guards cash in six figure pensions, take a day off, and then return to work - on OUR dime. What has this City done for residents in the past 5, 10 years to deserve any kind of "reward" for "service"?
It's been said in this article and on this website before: Punishing residents for the wild mismanagement of money by the City is going to backfire on the City. This is one of the reasons why people leave Philadelphia and this is one of the main reasons why the rest of Pennsylvanians have no sympathy towards this City's follies.
Keep your people happy and reap the benefits: keep your people in fiscal bondage and reap what you sow.
- AP
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Comments
Nutter's constituents drink soda. Lots of it. So the Soda tax was off the table
However, homeowners are easy prey and I would venture to say most homeowners in Philly are not black
10% increase in property taxes? Why not a 10% cut in salary for the highest paid scumbags working at the higher echelons of City Government? Inconceivable
There are no homeowners. Being forced to pay another for what is supposed to be yours is slavery not ownership. Property tax makes government into a criminal syndicate collecting extortion. The only difference between government and the Mob is that if the Mob demands protection money they actually stop crime.
The American dream of home ownership is the greatest lie ever told and we have a government that is denying the people the essence of what it is supposed to protect.
The only difference between being forced to grow cotton under the threat of a beating and being forced to grow money under the threat of being made homeless is the plantation has gotten a lot bigger.
America the land of the Slaves and home of the deceived.
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