We the signers of this petition call on the Philadelphia City Council to reject the proposal of The Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission (TRC).

The Tax Reform Commission unaffordable and unfair tax cuts to solve a non-existent problem while ignoring the real problem of Philadelphia

Since the turn of the century Philadelphia’s has been generating jobs fast. The elimination of business taxes will add only a small number of jobs over ten years at enormous cost in city revenues.

Lost revenue from the elimination of business taxes will lead either to deep cuts in services or steep increases in property taxes.

Only 30% of businesses in Philadelphia pay the business taxes. And they are the largest and most profitable businesses in the city. The TRC proposals will place a greater tax burden on working people and the middle class and a greater tax burden on Black people than white people. This is profoundly unfair

The TRC ignores the most serious economic problem Philadelphia faces: deep persistent poverty concentrated in mostly Black and brown communities; poverty not only harms the residents of those communities but the whole city. Poverty in Philadelphia's Black and brown communities was created over many years by public policy. It's time to reverse those policies.

If funds are available to eliminate business taxes, they should be devoted to proven, effective poverty reduction strategies that cities around the country have embraced including:

--workforce training
--investment in commercial corridors in low-income neighborhoods to improve streetscapes, signage, and recruit new businesses that provide goojobs for the community.
--providing capital funds to Black, brown and woman-headed businesses.