Here's an idea that just might tantalize City Council members: go ahead and cut the business privilege tax, but ONLY for smaller businesses. The big corporations? Keep squeezing 'em.
That's the pitch One Philadelphia has made recently in a letter to council members. Only about 500 companies pay more than $100,000 a year, and those big guys account for about 55 percent of the city's total BPT take. If they were excluded from the BPT cuts Mayor Nutter's proposing, the city would save over $60 million a year (by 2015, when the proposed cuts would be fully in effect) -- or so argues One Philadelphia.
But if the whole idea of cutting the BPT is to attract businesses and grow jobs, what's the logic in excluding the big corporations from the deal? Is Philly only interested in small employers? One Philadelphia's answer: for the biggies, the BPT is nothing more than a "blip in their accounting records."
We bet the CEOs of those businesses would say otherwise.
In any event, expect this issue to come up next week, when Council will deign to open its doors to the public for open comment (only three public comment sessions are scheduled during this year's budget hearings).
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