Philadelphia has lost 240,000 jobs and 140,000 residents in the past thirty years.

While the 2010 census marked the first rise in the population of the City since 1950, Philadelphia has lost half a million people in the past half century.

Much of this can be blamed the business-unfriendly culture in the City: our taxes are too high, our regulations too cumbersome, and our government too difficult to deal with.  As a result, our city unemployment rate is in the double digits. 

To make Philadelphia more competitive, Bill strongly supports overhauling Philadelphia's business privilege tax (BPT) to eliminate the job-killing 6.45% net income tax.  The net income tax puts local businesses at a disadvantage when competing locally and globally.  It stacks up the burden on those very small businesses that are the heart of our local economy and the source of job growth, especially in post-recession periods. And it punishes profitability, creating a major barrier to successful firms locating, growing, and staying in the city. 

Until we eliminate this tax, we will be unable to leverage our significant advantages of transportation infrastructure; geographic location; and universities and hospitals, our "eds and meds."  These are advantages we’ve had for forty years -- and ones we've been touting, selling, and talking about through forty years of job loss. 

Bill proposed to eliminate the high-rate net income tax and preserve revenue through a broad-based, low-rate tax on business receipts-- just as has been successfully done in Ohio and as is now under consideration at the state level in Pennsylvania, as a result of Bill's collaboration with State Senator Anthony H. Williams.

Because of our advantages, once we get rid of the worst tax structure of any major city in the country we can be the “comeback kid” of urban manufacturing – creating jobs that pay up to two times what service sector jobs do.  Our port expansion can make Philadelphia a logistics hub for the East Coast.  And the start-up firms incubated in the city can and will stay here.  Bill thinks the city can’t "win the future" with just service sector jobs, or just manufacturing jobs, or just IT jobs – we need all of these jobs.

Bill also believes that city government should leverage its substantial purchasing power to benefit as many Philadelphians as possible.  He has introduced legislation to provide additional opportunities for local business enterprises (LBEs) to do business with the city, and has introduced legislation requiring 50% of worker-hours on large city construction projects be performed by Philadelphia residents. 
Bill also sponsored legislation to create a revolving-loan fund to help finance weatherization and energy efficient upgrades to Philadelphia's housing stock.  These funds would not only save residents on their energy bills, but would also stimulate the economy by putting people to work. 
In addition to these legislative measures, Bill strongly supports making the City easier for businesses to interact with.  He supports putting more information about city licensing and regulatory requirements online, making it easier for business owners to comply.  He also supports a careful review of existing regulations to make sure they are effectively furthering the public interest and not simply creating more paperwork.

For more information:

Green joins with Sen. Anthony Williams to improve tax climate (Philadelphia Daily News, February 3, 2011)

Green's business sales tax gets Harrisburg boost (Philadelphia Inquirer, February 2, 2011)

Update on BPT Reform (press release, December 15, 2010)

Green's business tax bill stirs debate in Council (Philadelphia Inquirer, December 1, 2010)

Inquirer praises Green's tax reform efforts (Philadelphia Inquirer, November 28, 2010)

BPT Reform Website Launched (press release, November 4, 2010)

Green takes aim at Philly's "blogger" tax (Philadelphia Inquirer, November 3, 2010)

Business Privilege Tax Reform Introduced (press release, September 30, 2010)

Bill No. 100635: Business Privilege Tax Reform

Powerpoint presentation on BPT reform proposal 

Bill No. 100494: Local Business Enterprise certification and goals

Bill No. 100495: Required hours worked by Philadelphians

Bill No. 100496: Local preferences for bond issuances

Bill No. 100497: Local preferences for pension fund investors

Res. No. 090227: Domestic spending of ARRA funds

Bill No. 090326: FIRST Philadelphia legislation