MAYOR NUTTER, DON’T CUT OUR SERVICES: TAX THE BANKS! THEY GOT US INTO THIS MESS TO BEGIN WITH.
Writing at Young Philly Politics, Stan Shapiro has some suggestion for the mayor in lieu of service cuts. One stood out:
The Business Privilege Tax. This is actually two taxes, one of which falls on business gross receipts, the other on net income. There are a number of ways to target this tax to fall more heavily on big, profitable businesses, particularly those that are located outside the City that sell products or services into the City. To accomplish that, the gross receipts portion of the tax should be amended to do one or more of the following:
1) exempt the first $25,000 of receipts from the tax;
2) allow businesses to deduct the gross receipts tax that they pay against their net income tax liability.In addition, insurance companies, banks, utilities, stock brokerage firms and port related businesses should pay the tax at the same rate as all other businesses. And an oil processing tax that was in effect for only one year in the 1980’s should be reinstated.
That’s right folks: the banks, the very institutions that made shitty investments and got us into this mess to begin with, pay a lower business privilege tax than all other businesses in Philadelphia. I’ve called Councilman Green’s office to find out what that rate is: something tells me we’re missing out on a LOT of revenue.
But the mayor’s not asking THAT question: instead, the mayor’s trying to manipulate the public into picking their own paddle, which he thinks will be a lot easier than getting his wealthy backers to pony up.
More here, click to enlarge:
Make the banks pay their fair share, Mayor Nutter: stop trying to force the public, your real constituents who actually live here in Philadelphia and are not wealthy CEOs, to bear the burden of Wall Street’s bad judgement.
