It's Win-Win for Philadelphia:

Roll Back the Gross Receipts Tax!

Philadelphia would raise $75 million, boost job creation, and fund essential city services if the Gross Receipt Tax was rolled back to 1996.

A Tax Cut For Small Businesses:

Based upon 2007 figures, about 84% of all GRT taxpayers –- around 70,000 in all -- have receipts that total less than $500,000 per year. Together those businesses pay very little GRT, less than $8 million per year.  If the City exempted all of those small grossing businesses, that would leave about 13,000 GRT taxpayers.  Collectively those 13,000 businesses paid about $83 million in GRT in 2007.

Cancel That Corporate Giveaway:

The rate of the GRT in 2007 was very low:   .0015%.  That is way down from its highest point of .0039% in 1988.  Doubling the 2007 rate to .003% would still leave the rate well below its maximum, and exactly where it was in 1996 (Mayor Rendell had just cut the rate by 8%).

As we have seen, the 2007 rate raised about $83 million from only the richest businesses.  Doubling the rate to the 1996 level would therefore bring in another $83 million from those businesses, or a net of $75 million after deducting the $8 million that was paid by small businesses that our proposal would exempt.