District of Columbia residents aren’t the only ones facing the threat of a new tax on soda. The Philadelphia City Council, currently in the last stage of budget negotiations, will soon make a final decision on Mayor Nutter’s soda tax and proposals to raise taxes on property and tobacco.
Late last week the City Council gave preliminary approval to new taxes on tobacco products and a 9.9% property tax increase. Property tax critics contend, and ATR agrees, that it is ill-advised to raise the levy given the city’s problematic property tax assessment system. Mayor Nutter himself has admitted that the assessment system is flawed.
While the Council did not act on Mayor Nutter’s beloved soda tax last week, he has not given up. As budget deliberations near a conclusion this week, Mayor Nutter is engaging in a full court press for his beloved soda tax, failure of which will be considered a major political defeat for Nutter. Unable to receive initial sign off from the Council last week, Nutter is ramping up his lobbying efforts but has ratcheted down his proposal from 2 cents per ounce to ¾-cent per ounce.
It’s clear that the problem here is spending, not taxes. Philadelphia is the most highly taxed city in the U.S. and City Council just imposed a 14% sales tax hike less than nine months ago. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, yet this is how the Philly City Council continues to operate.
ATR encourages Philly taxpayers to contact their City Council members and tell them to vote “NO” on all pending tax increases. Simply CLICK HERE to make your voice heard today.