Well, most people saw that story for what it was: the City of Philadelphia was going after everybody for every dime they made. They're pretending the City is gasping for air financially when they refuse to fire useless city employees and create a better environment for small businesses.
I did have some retractions come along with that article, though, mostly people stating I either made the story up, exaggerated the story or was spreading more "evil Conservative propaganda".
So what's up with the new $300 blogger tax that Philly wants to charge and why are mostly reputable news sources - such as the originator of the story, the City Paper and the Drudge Report and Washington Examiner - reporting it? I mean, the City Paper is basically a Liberal rag - why would they want to further a "vast anti-Philadelphian Conservative conspiracy theory?"
I received about 10 e-mails about this story over the weekend as it was passed around the Internet and, obviously, being in Philadelphia - people wanted to weigh in on what I think.
First of all, considering people who run blogs and make less than even $500 or even $5000 a year a "business" is absolutely insane. Requiring people to file for a business license (where the $300 comes from) is basically keeping the names and addresses of everyone who has a blog. Therefore, Philadelphia is not only trying to make money from people who don't make any - but they are collecting names and locations of people who revel in free thought and free speech. The new "blogger tax" basically gouges both of those American ideals.
If your "site is designed to make money" - and by City standards that means your site exists - then you must file for a "business privilege" and pay $300 to "run a business" in this City.
How does this hurt yours truly? I'm not entirely sure. Examiner.com is slightly different than a blog wherein we are all paid by the site for the traffic we bring here. Sure, we're considered independent contractors and do not have our taxes taken out, but we are basically at the employ of the website. I mean, the City could go and pull what they did with me last year and say that since I filed as a reporter, I was considered running my own business. We'll have to wait to tax season to find out, I suppose.
This tax is not only designed to hurt bloggers, it's designed to quell small business, something Mayor Michael Nutter and his Mafioso, Democrat Union friends don't want around here. There are two Councilmembers (Bill Green and Maria Quinones-Sanchez-Nunez-Rodriguez-Menudo) who want to put an end to this bill by saying that businesses won't get taxed for the first $100,000 they make. Brilliant - but too bad bloggers and possibly yours truly will have to still file and "register" with the City.
Yes, this is what the City of Philadelphia is worried about, folks. For people who aren't devotees of my weekday articles, we are watching public employees embroiled in corruption scandals and watching this City fall apart as this place worries about what kinds of food we're eating and what kinds of stuff we're doing on the Internet. I think there are about five or six things going on at this moment. There's the DROP situation with City officials and employees stealing from taxpayers, there's Carl Greene with his most-likely drug and/or hooker problem at the helm of the Philly Housing Authority, there's the Delaware River Port Authority using money from the bridge tolls to give their 18 year old daughters free EZ-Passes, there's the school super "Queen" Arlene Ackerman getting paid $50,000 less than the President of the US to do nothing about the State-run public schools in the City and, of course, there's a general malaise going on with the population of the City due to increased crime, increased property taxes and a general "we don't care about neighborhoods where people still have pride in their neighborhoods" mentality resonating from the City.
(Pro Tip: Don't forget there's the domestic terrorist and Mafioso Local 98, run by John Dougherty and his boyfriend the-guy-who-likes-to-cover-for-his-friends-who-abuse-animals Councilman Frank DiCicco - terrorizing non-Union employers by beating their employees with baseball bats and threatening people who think Unions are a terrible, unnecessary association)
So, while all of this is going on - not to mention Mayor Nutter is cutting back fire departments because the public didn't like his soda tax idea - the City is worried about someone who wants to blog about making apple pies or how "great" (and I use that term very loosely) the show "True Blood" is.
Of course, this is yet another National embarrassment for a City that has taken many hits this year. If only people knew that the corruption and insanity here matches or bests that of cities like Chicago or Detroit, they'd see that this isn't just another story to laugh at like that one City who wanted the girl with a lemonade stand to pay a tax. This is a serious problem, a serious limit of free thought and speech and a serious "power grab" from a City that is basically giving a big "F You!" to small businesses.
For everyone who has to now pay taxes to share their ideas, let's return the favor by exposing these people as criminals and making the Socialistic manner of this City a public disgrace. Thankfully, with idiotic moves like these, Nutter & Co. do most of the job for us.
- AP
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