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Calling on Mayor James F. Kenney and his administration to work collaboratively with City Council, as well as business, labor, and diverse community stakeholders, to establish a Commission on Tax Equity and Growth, which would examine and assess the City's tax structure and advance a tax plan that centers racial equity and inclusive growth.
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WHEREAS, Residents of the City of Philadelphia rely on their municipal government to provide robust public services and amenities, support a strong system of public education, and ensure public safety and health. Philadelphia's intertwined poverty, opioid, and gun violence crises demonstrate how Philadelphia cannot be economically strong if many of its neighborhoods are left behind, and underscore that the City must invest to address profound racial disparities in poverty, eviction, incarceration, gun violence, and health; and
WHEREAS, Strengthening Philadelphia's economy also requires accelerating improvements to local GDP, labor force participation and employment rates, and job creation to make up for historic losses. The Kenney administration's report Growing with Equity: Philadelphia's Vision for Inclusive Growth further emphasizes the importance of increasing the number of quality jobs that pay family-sustaining wages; and
WHEREAS, As the City's budget is a reflection of its priorities and must center both racial equity and inclusive growth, its tax structure must as well; and
WHEREAS, It has been more than a decade since the last formal Tax Commission has convened. During City Council's Fiscal Year 2022 budget hearings, the Administration's finance officials explained that estimations and projections from the 2009 Task Force on Tax Policy and Economic Competitiveness were used to support and inform currently-proposed tax cuts, despite dating from more than a decade ago; and
WHEREAS, Major past reform efforts focused on reductions in the business and wage taxes as the primary mechanism to boost the ci...
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