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Old 03-04-2013, 09:42 AM
 
Location: South Jersey
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American Cities with the Highest (and Lowest) Taxes - 24/7 Wall St.

Philly is #2 in the US for highest. I assume they include the burbs an/or the city wage tax too?

Last edited by frankgn87; 03-04-2013 at 10:00 AM..
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Old 03-04-2013, 10:39 AM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
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Thinking this ranking is just the cities not metro areas. Suburbs aren't hit with the 4%Philadelphia city wage tax. Plus Philadelphia(at 8%) has the extra 2% regarding the state sales tax which is 6% for everyone else.

The city seems cavalier about imposing these extra little tax increases but imo they are more of a turnoff then they think.
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Old 03-04-2013, 10:39 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankgn87 View Post
American Cities with the Highest (and Lowest) Taxes - 24/7 Wall St.

Philly is #2 in the US for highest. I assume they include the burbs an/or the city wage tax too?
It's hard to tell whether suburban tax rates are factored into their methodology. I presume it involves the city proper and likely the resident wage tax.

Like most any city, Philly could use its resources more efficiently. Solving the perennial issue of property tax cheats is still certainly a challenge. However, I think the city is caught in a catch-22: On the one hand, reducing taxes would ostensibly bring in more residents and business in the long term. On the other hand, poorer residents are likely to suffer from reduced services in the short term, a situation which may go unrelieved by the preponderance of jobs located in suburbs inconvenient to or inaccessible by mass transit.
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Old 03-04-2013, 10:46 AM
 
Location: back in Philadelphia!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rainrock View Post
Thinking this ranking is just the cities not metro areas. Suburbs aren't hit with the 4%Philadelphia city wage tax. Plus Philadelphia(at 8%) has the extra 2% regarding the state sales tax which is 6% for everyone else.

The city seems cavalier about imposing these extra little tax increases but imo they are more of a turnoff then they think.
Well, they are if the resident of that suburb earns wages in the city.
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Old 03-04-2013, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
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Originally Posted by rotodome View Post
Well, they are if the resident of that suburb earns wages in the city.
Its the individual suburban worker who is penalized by the onerous Philadelphia city wage tax. Not the suburban towns themselves.
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Old 03-04-2013, 01:12 PM
 
Location: back in Philadelphia!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rainrock View Post
Its the individual suburban worker who is penalized by the onerous Philadelphia city wage tax. Not the suburban towns themselves.
I guess one could say it's just the individual urban workers too, then?

Regardless of fine distinctions in semantics, I think most would agree that if a city wage tax is going to exist, something at least needs to change so that people don't see it as a "penalty", but rather a cost that comes with clear benefits.
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Old 03-05-2013, 05:28 AM
 
Location: South Jersey
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The sad part is that Philly takes the second highest amount of $$ from its citizen's earnings then any city in the whole country... and they want to tax more with the AVI.
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Old 03-05-2013, 07:09 AM
 
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the infrastructure in any big city is going to cost more than in the suburbs. It's the nature of the beast. The difference is that in the suburbs most of the infrastructure costs wind up being personal costs. If you live in the 'burbs with two cars you might not see the $12,000 a year you pay to keep those cars on the road as a tax but I certainly do. I'm happy to pay slightly higher taxes to keep the subway running every 10 minutes.

The city also has much larger burdens than the suburbs. The 'burbs have been using the city as a repository for undesirables for the last 50 years. That's starting to change now as the poor in the 'burbs now outnumber those in the city but it's been a way of not having to deal with the problem and not having to pay for it either. Social Services costs the city a big chunk of change.

I was reading an article this morning on how Philly lost some new movie to Boston because Pennsylvania couldn't or wouldn't come up with the tax credits so the filmmakers said, "thanks but no thanks." People wonder why their taxes are so high? Really? Some producers are going to make $100 million on this film and they can't pay taxes? There are enormous office buildings in Center City full of really wealthy companies who pay no taxes.

You can't give away the store then wonder why you're broke.
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Old 03-05-2013, 08:52 AM
 
8,976 posts, read 21,067,474 times
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Originally Posted by frankgn87 View Post
I beg to differ. The city on a whole is many times more poorer that the burb areas.. According to city data here the median household in 09 in Philly was $37k and the median for the state was almost $50k.

http://www.city-data.com/income/inco...nsylvania.html
Can't deny that statistic...but I'm unsure which post you're responding to.
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Old 03-05-2013, 08:55 AM
 
Location: South Jersey
7,780 posts, read 21,793,759 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drive carephilly View Post
the infrastructure in any big city is going to cost more than in the suburbs. It's the nature of the beast. The difference is that in the suburbs most of the infrastructure costs wind up being personal costs. If you live in the 'burbs with two cars you might not see the $12,000 a year you pay to keep those cars on the road as a tax but I certainly do. I'm happy to pay slightly higher taxes to keep the subway running every 10 minutes.

The city also has much larger burdens than the suburbs. The 'burbs have been using the city as a repository for undesirables for the last 50 years. That's starting to change now as the poor in the 'burbs now outnumber those in the city but it's been a way of not having to deal with the problem and not having to pay for it either. Social Services costs the city a big chunk of change.

I was reading an article this morning on how Philly lost some new movie to Boston because Pennsylvania couldn't or wouldn't come up with the tax credits so the filmmakers said, "thanks but no thanks." People wonder why their taxes are so high? Really? Some producers are going to make $100 million on this film and they can't pay taxes? There are enormous office buildings in Center City full of really wealthy companies who pay no taxes.

You can't give away the store then wonder why you're broke.
I beg to differ. The city on a whole is many times more poorer that the burb areas.. According to city data here the median household in 09 in Philly was $37k and the median for the state was almost $50k.

http://www.city-data.com/income/inco...nsylvania.html
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