Letters: The people deconstruct the mayor's tax plan

BEFORE Philadelphians have to suffer with any more taxes, the mayor and City Council must shave more waste and reduce the cost of doing business in this still pay-to-play atmosphere (think unfinished waterfront). City Council must further reduce expenditures (try $100,000 for PR) to show good faith. Do we need a Tea Party to help save us?

Jim Hart, Philadelphia

I have no problem with the new property tax (I mean trash tax) so long as all Philadelphians pay their share. Before this property tax (I mean trash tax) is implemented, trash collectors should be retrained to do the following:

(1) All trash bags that don't make it into the truck are now picked up before the truck moves on.

(2) Pick up all the trash at each property, not just some of it.

(3) Once the trash is collected, send crews in to ensure that no trash has been left behind.

Once this happens, I'll gladly pay those taxes (not fees). I don't care about the soda tax - never drank it.

Tina Bellosi, Philadelphia

I'm in total disagreement with any trash tax or soda tax, no matter how it's supposed to be used.

What if you just charge a dollar for using those places! You can buy a pool tag (like a beach tag). Pay a fee each time you take out a book or use the computers, or purchase a membership that allows those privileges.

Yes, other counties pay for trash pickup, but they don't pay a wage tax! I'd gladly pay a trash fee in lieu of the city wage tax, but Mayor Taxman wants both.

Take away all city cars, make all city officials pay for parking and their own insurance. Become just like the people they are supposed to represent. I go to work every day in a car with 110,000 miles and pray it keeps on going. I pay gas, upkeep and insurance, but I make about 35k and year and they make more than 100k.

Now Mr. Taxman wants more! How about a pint of O-positive, too?

Michael Donapel, Philadelphia

Who pays & who doesn't?

So now the city wants to charge for trash collection. My question: Will the "brothas and sistas" in North Philly have to pay, or will the "non-brothas and sistas" in the Northeast have to subsidize that also?

Maybe if the former mayor and all the Council members in the DROP program gave the money back, this tax wouldn't be needed. Also, if this tax is passed, will we have the right to use a private contractor? Just another reason to move out of the city.

Joe Miller, Philadelphia

A trash fee on the already strapped citizens of this city? The great thinkers in City Hall are looking for ways to close the budget gap, so here are a few ideas on where they might start.

Council members might want to look at the expenses taxpayers are stuck with annually to support them and their staffs. Is $500,000 really necessary to run their offices? Do you really need a PR rep, personal driver, etc.?

The 10-year tax abatement is an absolute millstone around the necks of the neighborhoods. If an individual can afford $1 million for a condo, he can afford to pay the taxes - just another example of welfare for the well-to-do and the connected developers.

A toilet-paper tax? If not popular, at least fair. An incarceration tax? Maybe just a general tax on criminals - we'd be rollin' in the bucks.

Council needs to get creative.

Marty McLeary, Philadelphia

What arrogance

Mayor Nutter actually said, "I know it is this fantasy that some of my wonderful fellow Philadelphians have that somehow . . . trash service is free. There's nothing free." I'm sure those of us who've seen evidence of some city employees being paid for hours they never worked would disagree.

And, Mr. Mayor, you're the one living in a fantasyland. The reason we pay taxes in the first place is to receive services from our city. Services like police and firefighters, public schools, street cleaning, road maintenance - and trash collection. What an arrogant statement.

I'm a property owner who lives alone and doesn't generate a lot of trash. Most times, I put one bag out every two weeks and my recycling bucket once a month because I simply don't have the volume. So why should I pay the same flat tax as the family up the street with six people in the home and generating half a dozen bags a week? How is that at all fair?

The extra money may not seem like a lot to Mayor Nutter, but I can't afford to have nearly every expense in my budget go up, as they have been.

Maybe if the mayor and the rest of our elected officials concentrated on collecting back taxes, fines and fees already owed and trimming waste, there wouldn't be such outrageous proposals to raise revenue for the city.

Michael Taylor, Philadelphia

Mayor Nutter proposes to tax soda, then charge to pick up the empty cans in your trash? Yeah, that'll go over big.

Jim Acton, Collegeville