Title
Urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to reject Senate Bill 527, which would repeal the Sterling Act and have a devastating impact on the City of Philadelphia's fiscal stability, therefore financially crippling public services and regional leadership.
Body
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 527 proposes to repeal the Sterling Act and Section 324 of the Taxpayer Relief Act, while amending the Local Tax Enabling Act in a manner that would severely diminish Philadelphia's ability to generate and retain revenue essential to the provision of core public services; and
WHEREAS, The Sterling Act has served as a foundational component of Philadelphia's tax structure for nearly a century, enabling the City to collect wage taxes from nonresidents who work within its boundaries-individuals who benefit daily from Philadelphia's public safety, transportation, infrastructure, and utility systems; and
WHEREAS, City analysis estimates that the enactment of Senate Bill 527 could lead to an annual loss in revenue between $75 million and $172 million, amounting to a cumulative reduction of nearly $900 million over the City's Five-Year Financial Plan, thereby threatening funding for critical services such as public libraries, sanitation, public safety, and more; and
WHEREAS, Even the most conservative revenue loss projection-$75 million-is equivalent to the entire operating budget of the Free Library of Philadelphia, representing a devastating potential cut to public resources that support literacy, education, and access to opportunity; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 527 would also require Philadelphia to remit wage taxes collected from nonresident workers to their home municipalities and school districts, a dramatic departure from long-standing precedent and a fundamental shift in tax policy with broad and negative fiscal implications for the City; and
WHEREAS, The legislation would further eliminate Philadelphia's long-standing "Requirement of the Employer" rule, enacted in the 1980s, ...
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