Title
Authorizing the Committee on Finance to hold hearings regarding the potential of land-value taxation in and for Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, City Council is the body authorized by the City Charter to levy taxes and to legislatively determine the rates of such taxes; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Philadelphia had experienced years of sustained population and economic growth for the first time in decades, yet continued to lag national and urban trends for both, with our suburbs and exurbs siphoning business development in the metropolitan area away from the regional core; and
WHEREAS, The constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania includes the Uniformity Clause, which prevents both the state and its municipalities, including Home Rule jurisdictions, from taxing the same class of subject at different rates - such that all kinds and levels of personal income are treated the same and real property can only be taxed at the same rate whether residential, commercial, industrial, or mixed - with the limited, explicit exceptions being the homestead exemption for the primary home of Pennsylvania residents and for the income of the extremely poor; and
WHEREAS, The Uniformity Clause and implementing state taxing legislation frustrate the desire for a progressive or even differentiated property, income, or any other kind of tax, leaving an equal burden on the rich and workers, corporations and individuals alike, while the General Assembly has singled out the City to appropriate for the administration of the First Judicial District within the statewide "unified justice system" and has abdicated its responsibility to "provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth" by leaving the growing costs of the School District of Philadelphia and others to local officials; and
WHEREAS, During the latter half of the twentieth century, left with mostl...
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