Comments on: Press Release Of The Week: Two Liberty Place Revealed As The Arthur Kade Of Buildings

By: Patriot

Patriot — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:59:01 +0000

It’s truly encouraging that two fools can write such rubbish without doing any research and gin up a mob. Maybe they’ll find the social justice they seek in one of our world’s socialist utopias. Did they mention anything about all the union jobs that were created on these projects? That the abatement stemmed the tide of population losses by the city that had gone on for decades? That their likely political party affiliation was behind it all and that it actually served it’s intended purpose? It’s really a sad commentary on what this country is coming to.

By: robot

robot — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:11:39 +0000

@ekr103
Sales tax increase is the worst one.
I like how they keep saying “just a one penny increase”.
Like I spend one dollar a year.
All this does is make me buy more of my stuff on the internets.

By: ekr103

ekr103 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:56:24 +0000

I agree with robot about the people who live here, but use out of the city addresses to avoid the city wage tax. I know a bunch of ‘em and have brought this up before!

I was listening to an interview with Nutter on WHYY this morning, and I did come away with the feeling that the middle class who own regular homes and pay their taxes are being hit the hardest with the property & sales tax increases. I understand we don’t want to push businesses out of the city, but at the same time, I feel a bit burdened.

By: John Lightstone

John Lightstone — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:30:05 +0000

There’s also the point that having a downtown which is inhabited and has 24-hour residents has a ton of spillover positive effects, from keeping stores and restaurants in business to improving safety and security. In just the 12 years that I’ve lived in Center City, the difference on the streets during nights and weekends is huge. This is a much better place to live. No more hookers on Broad Street.

That’s what the tax abatement is designed to do. One can argue over whether it caused the influx of population to Center City, or if that was a trend that was going to happen anyway, but it was a designed development strategy, not just a windfall for the wealthy.

I need Paul Levy here to do this for me. I’m sure he has a passel of statistics to back it up.

By: robot

robot — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:03:45 +0000

@allan Smithee

re:”Think the wage tax for non-residents should equal what residents pay or be greater. Should be live here/pay less wage taxes not leave here/work here pay less.”

I think the problem with that is that the people who just work here use little of the services that the Wage Tax pays for. They are probably very profitable for the city, and some of them probably spend money on lunches, shopping and the occasional dinner while they are here.

What the city should do is try to crack down on people who live in the city but work outside the city and use an out of city address. These people use city services, but pay no wage tax.

By: Allan Smithee

Allan Smithee — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:51:10 +0000

@ karenm

re: “If 10 years of property tax abatement in a high-end downtown building draws even a single high-end wage earner paying wage taxes they will contribute more to the city coffers in a year than the protestors will in a lifetime. Do the math.”

Think the wage tax for non-residents should equal what residents pay or be greater. Should be live here/pay less wage taxes not leave here/work here pay less.

@ robot

re: “Philadelphia’s curent financial crisis has… everything to do with financial mismanagment.”

You’re right. There is plenty of blame to go around for the current financial mess.

By: Philly Chit Chat

Philly Chit Chat — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:24:47 +0000

I just spoke to a friend over the weekend who lives at Liberty Two, they don’t have the full tax abatement as new construction. Plus as an office building the before construction taxes were high anyway, so they are paying more in taxes then say the new Ritz-Carlton Condos. He wasn’t complaining though, just noting it in our conversation about Nutter raising taxes.

By: robot

robot — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:17:27 +0000

My point was the press release was implying that the owners of these condo’s weren’t going to be paying their fair share of taxes when the reality is that they already pay a ton of taxes. They keep talking about inherited money as if none of the people who are going to live their have jobs.

I am not a fan of tax abatements. They are a band-aid on a broken tax system, but you can just retroactively take away one that was already granted.

Philadelphia’s curent financial crisis has nothing to do with tax abatements and everything to do with financial mismanagment.

Why not protest the city counsel members getting $500k drop payments for phoney one day retirements?

By: karenm

karenm — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:14:49 +0000

Please stop giving these idiots more airtime than they deserve. Everyone knows poor people in Philly don’t pay any taxes at all and use all the services. If 10 years of property tax abatement in a high-end downtown building draws even a single high-end wage earner paying wage taxes they will contribute more to the city coffers in a year than the protestors will in a lifetime. Do the math.

By: julia

julia — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:03:46 +0000

@ Allan Smithee

You are absolutely correct, if the state actually gave school districts the funds they needed, the city and other municipalities wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on property taxes to pay for public school.