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Philly.com- To generate money for Philadelphia’s struggling school district, Mayor Kenney wants to raise the property tax, increase the real estate transfer tax, and put the brakes on projected cuts to the wage tax.
City Councilwoman Cindy Bass has another idea: She hopes to make hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts to the budget over the next five years, especially to the city’s prison system.
Bass, who has increasingly been at odds with Kenney, plans to introduce her alternative when Council returns next week.
She said raising real estate taxes — which lawmakers have done several times in recent years — is “the easy go-to.”
“People are feeling the pinch,” said Bass. “We are requesting that instead of looking outward at everybody else’s pocketbook, we look inwards at our own pocketbook.”
It’s an early move in Philadelphia’s annual budget dance, when Council members introduce alternative ideas to the mayor’s. Oftentimes, their suggestions — or pieces of them, at least — become law. The budget is due June 30.
