Proposal To Reform Philadelphia Business Taxes Gains Support
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An ambitious proposal to reform Philadelphia business taxes got some heavyweight support Friday. Business, labor, Democrat and Republican lawmakers united behind the effort.
More than a dozen prominent local leaders spoke in support of the tax reform plan, which Mayor Jim Kenney presented as a jobs bill.
"This will enable hundreds of thousands of businesses in Philadelphia to add new jobs over the next decade," said Kenney.
The theory is that more employers would locate here if wage and business taxes were lower, and the city could afford to do that if it could tax commercial real estate at a higher rate than residential real estate. But that would require a change to the "uniformity clause" of the state constitution, which means enabling legislation would have to pass the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions and then go on a ballot.
"This is not an easy project."
State representative John Taylor says he does think it can happen and for the sake of the city, he says, it should.