Quo vadimus? Where are we going? You tell us.

Mayor Street did not want to cut taxes any further, but our advocacy efforts won enactment of legislation to dramatically reduce the Wage Tax and deepen cuts to the Gross Receipts Portion of the job-killing Business Privilege Tax. 

Then, our constituency for change elected new leadership for the city and with Mayor Nutter in office, we pushed for and won legislation to eliminate the Gross Receipts Portion of the BPT by 2017, and enact the first-ever cuts to the BPT's Tax Net Income Portion. 

Economic data indicate that tax reductions have cut the gap between national employment growth and city growth in half and as tax rates have gone down, tax revenues have increased.  Our efforts have been transformative for Philadelphia and we can now see the day when taxes will no longer represent an insurmountable barrier to growth for Philadelphia. 

On the tax fairness front, as late as six months ago, a newspaper headline blared, "City tax board holds off on full-value assessment," but our educational-outreach and legal maneuverings moved the city to begin an overhaul of its system of real estate valuation. 

I don't know if we are the "most effective civic group ever" as one member of the constituency for change declared, but we have absolutely moved Philadelphia in the positive direction. 

Of course, our full-speed-ahead advocacy has ruffled some feathers among the "connected and contented" crowd.  But our approach has been to speak for Philadelphia, not for the special interests and to break free from the go-along-to-get-along mentality that had doomed Philadelphia to decades of decline. 

QUO VADIMUS?

Now, given our tremendous successes, we look to the future and wonder what our constituency for change believes our next moves should be.  Please view the poll to the right of this page to vote and help Philadelphia Forward decide how to move ahead…what should be our response to our success?

• We did it!  We moved Philadelphia forward.  Now we can declare victory and retire from the field - we trust Mayor Nutter to continue our progress.
• We made remarkable progress, but can't rest now!  Philadelphia's history warns us that if reformers rest, we can expect missteps and backsliding from elected leaders - we must raise more resources and expand our capacity to push for change.
• We have a blueprint for success and the infrastructure to make change happen!  Let's look at other reforms where our aggressive advocacy can push for change - let's generate the funding to take on other challenges.
• We have a city that is not interested in moving forward!  We have done all we can, but we're fooling ourselves if we think Philadelphia is ever going to be the city we know it should be - we should move to a city worth fighting for.

And...if you believe in what we are doing, please help support our efforts.  You can do so TODAY by clicking the "Make a Donation!" box in the upper righthand corner of the page or by mailing a contribution to...

    Philadelphia Forward
    2303 Lombard Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19146

Quo vadimus?  You tell us.