PA Tax Revenues by County (2012-2013) (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: vehicle registration, home, transfer)

[BPP1999]

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal..._stat_supp_pdf

This thread is not to start arguments but to help stop them, and is taken right from the horse's mouth (the PA DOR). The population figures are from Wikipedia. Someone feel free to check my math. Philadelphia metro population is 31.7% of state population.

Realty transfer taxes (state portion only):
1 - Philadelphia 12.1% of total of this tax type/this county represents 12% of state population
2 - Montgomery 9.8%/ 6.3%
3 - Allegheny 9.8%/ 9.8%
4 - Chester 8%/ 3.9%
5 - Bucks 7.5%/ 5.1%
6 - Delaware 5.5%/ 4.4%
7 - Lancaster 4%/ 4.1%

Inheritance taxes
1 - Montg 12.5%
2 - Alleg 12.3%
3 - Phila 7.4%
4 - Dela 6.4%
5 - Bucks 6.3%
6 - Chest 5.7%
7 - Lanc 3.9%

Vehicle
1 - Alleg 11.2%
2 - Phila 7.8%
3 - Montg 6.8%
4 - Bucks 5.5%
5 - Chest 4.4%
6 - Dela 4%
7 - Lanc 3.7%

Sales (state portion only)
1 - Alleg 13.3%
2 - Phila 10.7%
3 - Montg 8.5%
4 - Bucks 5%
5 - Lanc 4.9%
6 - Chest 4.6%
7 - Dela 2%

Of the above taxes, approximately $2.294B are generated by Philadelphia and its 4 suburban counties. Total receipts for all PA counties for these 4 taxes are $6.846B. Philadelphia metro portion is 33.5%. Total Philadelphia metro population is 31.7% of state.

Personal Income Tax (state portion only, likely does not include reduction for tax forgiveness, so I multiplied total taxable income by 3.07%)
1 - Montg 10.9% $1.012B
2 - Alleg 10.9% $1.012B
3 - Phila 7.4% $688M
4 - Bucks 7.3% $681M
5 - Chester 6.9% $637M
6 - Dela 5.6% $519M
7 - Lanc 3.9% $366M

Ignoring tax forgiveness, total taxable income X 3.07% for Metro Philly is $3.537B. Total for all of PA is $9.282B. Philly Metro is 38% on 31.7% of population. Since the DOR publication above does not list tax forgiveness I have not included it here. There is a PA publication detailing this. Someone feel free to find and add to my analysis.


Comments:

As expected, Metro Philly generates more than its share of tax revenues, but the excess is not as huge as some might think. I calculate a rough excess of about $700M of excess, based on total Philadelphia area revenues compared to total Philadelphia area population/total PA population. Philadelphia's 4 suburban counties (Montgomery and Chester, especially) are subsidizing Philadelphia's shortfall, then the rest of the state.

I included Allegheny and Lancaster because the top 7 categories in each category were Phila + its 4 suburbs + Allegheny (Pittsburgh) + Lancaster. Allegheny seems to get screwed royally, which I have read elsewhere.

Neither corporate net income taxes nor capital stock taxes are included on the above website. Per the website, these taxes represent 18% of state revenues collected.

There are other taxes listed on this website that I have not included in the totals above, such as out-of-state taxpayers, LCB revenues, and motor vehicle registrations.

Someone please feel free to correct my mistakes or make other comments. The point of this is to show the Philadelphia-haters that they are not subsidizing the Philly metro.

[thecoalman]

And what's you point without correlations, just for example the P&G plant in Mehoopnay which has to be one of the largest if not the largest manufacturing facility in the state.

http://goo.gl/maps/iSzaX zoom out a little and look to the top right, that's part P&G too.

I'm going to take a wild guess any corporate taxes they are paying are not attributed to that county. What about the natural gas companies, headquarters in Philly and Pittsburgh? That revenue is not being made in Philly and Pittsburgh.

Raw numbers are meaningless without context and correlation.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

And what's you point without correlations, just for example the P&G plant in Mehoopnay which has to be one of the largest if not the largest manufacturing facility in the state.

http://goo.gl/maps/iSzaX zoom out a little and look to the top right, that's part P&G too.

I'm going to take a wild guess any corporate taxes they are paying are not attributed to that county. What about the natural gas companies, headquarters in Philly and Pittsburgh? That revenue is not being made in Philly and Pittsburgh.

Raw numbers are meaningless without context and correlation.

Some people refuse to budge an inch.

Any corporate net income taxes, or capital stock taxes, generated by this plant are certainly not sourced to Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh, or Lancaster counties, right, so why bring it up? P&G is HQ'd in Ohio and this plant is located in Wyoming County. It may be that due to state apportionment issues it's impossible to source corporate taxes to counties. For example, Comcast has a huge presence in Philadelphia, but also has locations in many other PA counties.

What about the Merck plant in West Point, Montgomery County? There's over 10,000 employees with a large average salary (well over $80k I believe).

What about other suburban Philadelphia corporations such as Vanguard? Pfizer? McNeill? Quest Diagnostics? TEVA Pharmaceuticals? GlaxoSmithKline? Siemens? SunGard? Boeing? Lockheed Martin? We could go on and on and on. If you think that the non-Philadelphia counties somehow represent a disproportionate amount of corporate income taxes, please try to prove it here. Otherwise I'm not sure you can make such a statement.

[RightonWalnut]

And this is just tax revenue... wish there was a source that split up the state GDP per county.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

If you think that the non-Philadelphia counties somehow represent a disproportionate amount of corporate income taxes, please try to prove it here. Otherwise I'm not sure you can make such a statement.

No that's your job, this is your topic. You have used some raw numbers and again without correlation and context they are useless.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

No that's your job, this is your topic. You have used some raw numbers and again without correlation and context they are useless.

There is nothing left for me to prove. I disclaimed the fact that I could find no detail about corporate taxes in my first post, then mentioned that they made up about 16% of state revenues. Philadelphia and its 4 suburban counties would need to generate about 5% or less of total corporate taxes in order to swing the "excess" I mentioned above to a deficit.

If you think that corporate taxes are somehow generated in counties other than Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia to the tune of more than 75% or so then you are either grasping at straws or are delusional. I have made many correlations. The numbers speak for themselves. Prove me wrong or move on.

Remember, my point was to show that the Philadelphia region is generating at least its share of tax revenues, based on population. I proved that not to argue with you but to keep people who know nothing about any of this from spouting off about how they are subsidizing Philadelphia.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

Prove me wrong or move on.

Prove what wrong? The only thing you have proved is how to copy and paste some some raw numbers. Without analysis of those numbers they are meaningless.

I'll give you an example, the PSEA likes to state the average teacher pension is something like $30K. Is that true? Certainly but it's MEANINGLESS. If you want true picture of what teacher pension is you need to know what a teacher retiring after 25 or 30 years is going to get.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

Prove what wrong? The only thing you have proved is how to copy and paste some some raw numbers. Without analysis of those numbers they are meaningless.

I'll give you an example, the PSEA likes to state the average teacher pension is something like $30K. Is that true? Certainly but it's MEANINGLESS. If you want true picture of what teacher pension is you need to know what a teacher retiring after 25 or 30 years is going to get.

You may need to look again. After I posted the info the first time around I added more. There is more than just raw numbers on my first post.

[trackstar13]

One thing to add to this issue is that realty transfer taxes are hard to compare because they are based on the value of the properties and I am not disputing the numbers, just pointing this out. In other words, counties with cheaper housing have no chance of making this list because of how these taxes work. I wonder what percentage some of these taxes are per person and as a percentage of their income?

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

One thing to add to this issue is that realty transfer taxes are hard to compare because they are based on the value of the properties and I am not disputing the numbers, just pointing this out. In other words, counties with cheaper housing have no chance of making this list because of how these taxes work. I wonder what percentage some of these taxes are per person and as a percentage of their income?

Completely true. That's another reason why Metro Philadelphia provides more in that area: more expensive home prices.