by Joe Wallace
When I was freelancing in Philadelphia last week, I had no idea of the controversy that was about to smack my Philly-based freelance colleagues right in the face. According to several reports including this Associated Press story run on Stars and Stripes. It seems that local bloggers are being classified as business people, regardless of how much actual income a blog generates. According to AP writer Joann Loviglio’s story, bloggers in Philadelphia are required to apply for a business license. “The city’s so-called business privilege license costs $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime. If a blog takes money for advertising, or sells photographs or other goods, it’s a business and must pay for a license – no matter how little it makes – plus taxes on profits.”
This is not a new idea, to be sure, but it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a city ordinance being applied to people who barely make the cost to apply for the license, let alone enough money to supplement an income earned elsewhere. But Philadelphia local government–like many others–is desperate for cash and figures they can squeeze a few extra bucks out of a previously untapped demographic.
Reportage on this issue is a bit spotty–I could swear I saw at least one story that claimed the tax was $300 instead of the AP’s reported $50. That $50 is for one year, but Philly does, according to the AP article, offer you the option to pay $300 for a lifetime permit.
Le’s be realistic here–$50 a year isn’t screamingly unfair for some. It IS a write-off and if you live in Philly you could possibly get a bit of extra mileage with local clients by waving your Philly licensure around as a form of street cred. By the same token, the people who think it’s not so bad are the ones who are actually making money from their blogs. The majority of those affected by this are probably hobby bloggers and trying to scrape a few extra coins together to pay for their hosting and connectivity expenses. It’s these people who shouldn’t be taxed as a business; you might as well try to tax a yard sale or a kid’s lemonade stand—who, let’s face it, probably make more in one summer than some newbie bloggers do.
What to do? The only thing you CAN do is be the squeaky wheel, but this might be a case of not being able to fight City Hall. What do YOU think? We’d love to get some comments or even a guest blog post or three from people directly affected by this Philly business tax issue.
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