Raising Taxes in Philadelphia

The economy has most people stretched as far as they can go, but Mayor Michael Nutter may try to stretch your dollar even further.

Tuesday, Nutter said that Philadelphia would have to raise taxes or fees to close its budget deficit according to the New York Times.

“We can’t just cut our way out of this situation,” Mr. Nutter said in an interview with WHYY radio. “We will have to consider very seriously some form of revenue enhancement.”

In order to balance the 2010 fiscal year budget, over the next five years services will also be cut according to Nutter.

During several public meetings on the budget, Philadelphians surprisingly said they were willing to pay higher taxes to preserve services threatened by the budget crisis.

“Given a chance to confront the tough trade-offs, most citizens opted to tax themselves — while struggling to give a tax break to those less fortunate,” said a report by the Project for Civic Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania, which organized the meetings.

Mr. Nutter has promised to use the findings from the meetings in his budget presentation to the City Council on March 19.
 

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