OUR PLAN

For decades, our city has run its budget process under the myth that there is no money — no money to fully fund our schools or expand services like affordable housing, public library hours or street sweeping. 

But in reality, we live in the richest region in our state, in the richest country in the world. Our region is home to 15 Fortune 500 companies, ten billionaires, and the biggest concentration of millionaires in the state. Pandemic profiteers in the state have increased their wealth over the last year. 

COVID has exposed the deep racial and economic inequalities that are ingrained into how we fund public budgets and to where that money goes. Now is the time to require the very wealthiest Philadelphians — billionaires, corporations, developers and mega nonprofits — to pay their fair share for a true just recovery for our city. 

The Revenue For a Just Recovery Plan provides sustained funding for the city, funding that allows all Philadelphia residents and their communities to thrive. We are calling on our elected officials to take swift action to support bold policies that fully fund recovery and mitigate the lasting impact of the virus on working families throughout the city. 

We are asking the Mayor’s office and City Council to champion legislation around:

Tax the Rich - Require the wealthy to pay their fair share:

 

    • Ending the 10-year tax abatement and resisting rollbacks to tax abatement reform;
    • Collecting Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) from universities like UPenn, Drexel, and Jefferson;
    • Passing a Wealth Tax on individual and corporate holdings of stocks and bonds (excluding retirement accounts);
    • Doubling the Gross Receipts Tax, which is now at the lowest rate in its history, on the top 10% of businesses in the city, and increasing enforcement of the tax on out-of-City businesses;
    • Enforcing the Unearned Income tax, which would bring much needed ongoing revenue to the School District of Philadelphia.

Treatment Not Trauma - Divest from regressive expenses that harm our city:

  • Philadelphia currently spends nearly 20% of its General Fund budget on policing and prisons and other programs that fail to keep us safe. 

Cancel Wall Street - Cutting down on our payments to Wall Street: