Taxes and Implications for SWCC Economic Development

[nostradamamamos]

I think it's way past time we called bull**** on the recent Mayor/City Council sales tax hike, which incidentally they passed before going on their 3 month paid vacation. Actually, at least this way for 3 months out of the year the 20+ overpaid douchebags we call CityCouncilMembers can't screw anything else up or raise any other taxes. How in the hell is raising the sales tax going to help small businesses? Why in the hell would anybody raise taxes in a recession?

What I think we need to demand is that City Council and the Mayor eliminate all political patronage jobs, and there ARE A ****LOAD of these, FIRST, before cutting any services or raising any taxes.

The recent audit of the PPA reveals a not too surprising result: there are way too many managers doing nothing all day.

The City could easily carve away 25%+ of the people on the payroll, and they should start with political patronage jobs: remember the "KKK" sign lady and her 90K+ job? There are a boatload of these jobs, and nobody in the mayors office or city council is talking about cutting them. Why not? That's where their power within the machine comes from.

Wise up suckers! This city has 1/3 the population it did in 1960, but at least 2X as many city employees. How is this possible?

[furby076]

Did you notice the mayors options for the city - Cut essential operations (police, emt, libraries, schools) or tax hike. As if the city didn't have non-essential operations they could cut (like some of the fat from his office). Basically he wants to raise the taxes so he is presenting a lose-lose situation. Obviously cutting essential operations is worse then a tax hike - he knows this, we know this. So by giving us only those two options it makes it look like the tax hike is the lesser of two evils. However life has more options for us - it's just the mayor doesn't want to allow us to have it.
That's the BS which needs to be called out.

[lbphilly]

Did you notice the mayors options for the city - Cut essential operations (police, emt, libraries, schools) or tax hike. As if the city didn't have non-essential operations they could cut (like some of the fat from his office). Basically he wants to raise the taxes so he is presenting a lose-lose situation. Obviously cutting essential operations is worse then a tax hike - he knows this, we know this. So by giving us only those two options it makes it look like the tax hike is the lesser of two evils. However life has more options for us - it's just the mayor doesn't want to allow us to have it.
That's the BS which needs to be called out.

Politicians have been pulling this stunt for as long as I can remember. This is a valid discussion topic, but not on this thread, and it's a city-wide (even nationwide) issue. There's a solid thread on the Philly issue here:

http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/fo...ast-stand.html

Let's please return this thread to a conversation about whether business development is picking up in SWCC.

[nostradamamamos]

I'd say that a roughly 15% tax hike (from 7% to 8%) is an issue that will have a big impact on retail businesses and others in the SWCC area. That is why I posted previously. It is directly related. Tax hikes kill business and drive consumers to make purchases in other areas with lower taxes, like Delaware for example. If you want businesses to grow in SWCC, then you should be against a tax hike. Simple, right? Cutting political patronage jobs is a much better solution than tax hikes, because it will help businesses in SWCC rather than hurt them. The Philadelphia Democratic political machine needs to go on a real quick diet to balance the budget, or lose whatever credibility they have left, and that's very little.

[lbphilly]

Folks may have noticed a lively discussion in The Dump recently -- a new thread for the economic development implications to SWCC of the contemplated tax increases is a better solution, one proposed by Nostradamamos, so here it is. I've moved all the relevant posts here, or at least I hope I have.