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IF MAYOR NUTTER gets his way, smokers and drinkers could be forking up some big dough in city taxes - but not all of them are fuming about it.

Sonny Deniro, a server at Jon's Bar & Grille at 3rd and South, said he opposed the new sin taxes - until he found out the money would go to the schools.

City schools "need help," said Deniro, 27, a parent of a child who hasn't entered school yet. "They should raise it up even more."

Nutter proposed two new taxes yesterday - a $2-per-pack cigarette tax and a 5 percentage-point increase in the city's "liquor-by-the-drink" tax - to raise $67 million for the financially beleaguered Philadelphia School District.

He's also promising $28 million in improved collections of existing taxes to aid the district, which has requested $60 million from the city, $120 million from the state and $123 in labor savings to fund its massive budget shortfall.

Both of the tax hikes would require authorization from Harrisburg and approval from Council.

"Now it's time for our political leaders to step up or step aside," Nutter said at a news conference.

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