Philadelphia has a 20% parking tax. It means that when you park, the operator slaps on an additional 20% which it turns over to the government. Well sort of. Operators tell me that they do break out the tax, but often can’t pass the entire amount on to the parker.
Enter Councilman Jim Kenney. He got a bill through the city council that would reduce the parking tax by one percentage point a year beginning in 2014 until it was down to 17%. The mayor, pleading the need for money for the city’s coffers, vetoed the bill. Fair enough all around.
The bonehead part of this was from another councilman, one Brian O’Neill, who said:
“(The parking) industry does not bring tears to my eyes at all,” O’Neill said, noting that he would prefer to see property taxes, which were raised twice recently, reduced instead.
Where the hell does Mr O’Neill think the money comes from? No matter what, the money comes from the people who park, not the parking facility owners or operators. They fight the tax because it makes their business more difficult and are trying to keep parking costs down in the central city. However, make no mistake, in the end its the person who drives the car who pays. This is true in sales tax, in corporate tax, excise tax in every form of taxation. Its a business expense and is passed right along to the customer.
Agrrrrrrrrr…
JVH