In an act that is neither brotherly nor loving, the city of Philadelphia is demanding business license fees from a local blogger. From CityPaper.com:
"Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she's made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it's a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.
"In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license."
Bess is not atypical. While there's no one authoritative source for determining "average" blogger ad revenues, Liz Fuller at EveryJoe.com reports on a Technorati survey that intuitively feels about right:
"And what is the statistical median for the advertising income by US bloggers in the Technorati research? $200."
Sure, that means half made more, some considerably, but it's pretty obvious that for all but the very top earners, business license fees could mean the difference between continuing or quitting. And that means government edicts would have the effect of chilling free speech, including commentary like you find here that defends the right to keep and bear arms--something most of the media isn't exactly lining up to provide you with.
Conceivably, this could apply to more than ad revenues. While I feature ads on my blog, The War on Guns, here at Examiner.com, we are contractors paid for page views. Most would be hard-pressed to continue if they had to pay $300 for the privilege.
And most would be even harder pressed to follow the not-my-problem instruction of this arrogant Philadelphia city parasi...uh...employee:
"When Bess pressed her case to officials with the city's now-closed tax amnesty program, she says, 'I was told to hire an accountant.'"
We know that cities are strapped for cash and looking for any and every new source of revenue they can get their hands on--after all, how can a place like Bell, CA continue to keep its hard-working public servants in the lifestyles they're accustomed to?
If the Philadelphia experiment stands, look for it to be emulated by other municipalities throughout the Republic. Look for it to be expanded to go after every conceivable "loophole."
Meanwhile, if I were one of these folks, I'd be trying to figure out what my personal liabilities were.
Comments
Torches and Pitchforks!!!!
Fight islam Now
How many Constitutionally-guarenteed rights will government try to sell back to us to make money?
By financially stifiling blogs, they are doing nothing other than stifling free speech. Of course, that is also the case with licensing voting rights (Poll taxes) and Second Amendment rights.
It is all to easy to ignore something this small with the hope common sense and basic rights will prevail but if it is not stopped now it will expand thus setting a terrible example of how to control or eliminate free speech. In general if a business is not making enough money to support itself then it should not be taxed/licensed unless that income is being combined with other income to make a liveable wage.
Figures. If they can tax it, they will, I'm also guessing it could be an easy way to stifle freedom of speech for those who disagree with the pols in question. It might be the Left's best way at silencing the Right in this country without firing a shot.
TEST
I think it's no longer possible to post comments.
Govt. takes way too much as it is now. They need to have their belts tightend tremendously.
This is an infringement on the 1st amendment. They will try and eventually make it so expensive to be heard, only the corporations will be able to afford it, just like TV stations. They want to be able to lie with impunity to the people like they dd before alternative news cropped up, now they are threatened and for good reason.
I'm fresh out of gold, silver or mostly green colored paper to pay up. I do have some lead for payment. Come and get it.
New Hampshire used to have one of the simplest to get, non-resident concealed carry permits. You sent them $20 and a copy of a valid permit to carry, they'd call your issuing authority to verify it, then mail you a permit. They have now raised the fee to $80. Of the 37 people I polled who had a NH permit, not one was going to renew. So instead of getting $2960 as teh politicians probably expected, they are losing $740.
"And my advice for those who die,
Declare the pennies on your eyes" -- Taxman by The Beatles 1966
Why do they tax stuff like this? For the same reason that dogs lick themselves. Because they can. Only in the case of taxes they can because we put up with it.
Government is run by and for scum, benefiting scummy government. Using your money and really believing that your money is actually their's! As much as they can get!
Why isn't Philly demanding reporters be licensed? Or those who write opinion pieces for major papers? Gee, could it be that they have lawyers who'll bring up that pesky constitution thingie? I suspect just the threat of a court challenge would cost Philly more than they could get from Bloggers.
This also raises a question. If my blog is on a server in Michigan, but mostly read by those on the West Coast, and I write it while living in a hotel room in Dallas and publish it weekly when I'm home in Philly (the complex 21st century life), which jurisdiction(s) can "tax" me for my blog earnings or require licenses? What if I merely live in Philly on weekends and publish while on-the-road consulting in different cities? The mind boggles at how the bureaucratic mind might interpret that for "revenue enhancement" purposes.
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