HGFA's Remedy to Philadelphia City Council budget woes
The economically just and responsible option that would assist Philadelphia now and before next year's similar budget debate would be to enactment LVT.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s first page article of April 25, 2010 reads:
“Mayor Nutter's proposed sweet-drinks tax appears dead, along with a $300 residential trash-pickup fee.
Instead, City Council is committed to raising property taxes for the first time in two decades and eliminating hundreds of unfilled city jobs, according to Council members who attended closed-door meetings last week on Nutter's $3.9 billion 2010-11 budget.”
If the Inquirer’s report is correct, and Philadelphia city council members are committed to raising property taxes than the Henry George Foundation of America urges council to act on the information provided them by the Center for the Study of Economics and enact Land Value Taxation(LVT).
Why?
1. The Center for the Study of Economics research and studies provide compelling evidence that Implementation of LVT would extend some of the tax relief enjoyed by 10 year abatement properties to all productive property owners and shift most of the added burden to the underutilized and vacant land across the city that has been benefiting from low taxes for decades.
2. Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission recommendation - Phasing-in Land Value Taxation.
3. Philadelphia's Controller 2001 proposed Land Value Taxation
"... the city can create a tax structure that encourages smart growth through local legislative action and, in a relatively short period of time, could positively affect every single business and resident in Philadelphia and dramatically improve the city’s overall competitiveness. The city can cut taxes and change how the city taxes to encourage businesses to locate and expand in Philadelphia so that the tax reductions and modifications will actually result in a larger tax base and increased tax collections in the future." Jonathan A. Saidel, 2001 City Controller's Tax Analysis Report
