sueinphilly

Nutter plan: Taxes up, spending down | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/12/2009

<<According to budget documents The Inquirer obtained, Nutter will propose two two-year tax increases: a 1 percent increase in the sales tax and a 17 percent increase in property taxes.>>

Philadelphia has a real estate tax abatement program (I didn't buy new construction so I actually PAY real estate taxes, more than the people with the million dollar condo). The article below is from the NYT, but it's about Philadelphia. Our city already has a 1% sales tax over and above the PA tax rate (7% vs 6%). I pay city wage tax of 4% on my GROSS pay. My city & state taxes (combined) are HIGHER than my Federal tax paid (not taxes withheld, actually owed on my tax return).
Just who is getting stimulated here?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/re...te/08nati.html
<<The program, which started with residential conversions in 1997 but expanded to new construction in 2000, holds the tax assessment at a property's predevelopment level for 10 years. The Bars, for instance, pay just $1,200 a year in property taxes rather than the $12,000 they would pay without the abatement on their $1.1 million 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bath condo>>

BCEagle91

Everyone is trying to squeeze everyone else for cash.