Urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to reject Senate Bill 527, which would repeal the Sterling Act and have a devastating impact on the City of Philadelphia's fiscal stability, therefore financially crippling public services and regional leadership.

Urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to reject Senate Bill 527, which would repeal the Sterling Act and have a devastating impact on the City of Philadelphia’s fiscal stability, therefore financially crippling public services and regional leadership. WHEREAS, Senate Bill 527 proposes to repeal the Sterling Act and Section 324 of the Taxpayer Relief Act, while amending the Local Tax Enabling Act in a manner that would severely diminish Philadelphia’s ability to generate and retain revenue essential to the provision of core public services; and WHEREAS, The Sterling Act has served as a foundational component of Philadelphia’s tax structure for nearly a century, enabling the City to collect wage taxes from nonresidents who work within its boundaries-individuals who benefit daily from Philadelphia’s public safety, transportation, infrastructure, and utility systems; and WHEREAS, City analysis estimates that the enactment of Senate Bill 527 could lead to an annual loss in revenue between $75 million and $172 million, amounting to a cumulative reduction of nearly $900 million over the City’s Five-Year Financial Plan, thereby threatening funding for critical services such as public libraries, sanitation, public safety, and more; and WHEREAS, Even the most conservative revenue loss projection-$75 million-is equivalent to the entire operating budget of the Free Library of Philadelphia, representing a devastating potential cut to public resources that support literacy, education, a…