Blog Tax? (Are They serious?)

Last night, my wife made me aware of the City of Philadelphia's plan to tax bloggers. I thought this was a joke at first until I read an article in which it appears that this is exactly what the city is planning to do... Excuse me, already doing.

I read an article about this (in of all places) The New York Times. I figure if a paper in New York is writing about something happening in Philly, chances are whatever it is must only be happening in Philly and hasn't happened in New York or anywhere else yet. I'm used to reading in Philadelphia papers about a new craze that has started in New York or Los Angeles. But, I digress... getting back to the subject at hand...

CNN Money said and I'll quote it here... "Philadelphia bloggers were abuzz this week about a city-wide move to crack down on citizens running a business without a license, which includes any local bloggers running ads on their sites."

The weekly free newspaper, Philadelphia City Paper, kicked off the hullabaloo with an article spotlighting several small-scale bloggers who were startled to receive letters from the city demanding that they shell out up to $300 for a license allowing them to operate a local business. One of the recipients had raked in a whopping profit of $ 11.00! Eleven freakin dollars over two years from his blog and these cats want him to either pay $ 50.00 a year or $ 300.00 for a "lifetime" license. They're all been smokin' crack in City Hall!

The city's argument is that in Philly, anyone "conducting commercial activity" is required to buy a business privilege license that costs $ 300 for a lifetime or $50 per year. Businesses must also pay taxes on any profit they make. This is how the Philly bloggers landed on the city's radar: Those who followed the law and reported their blog's revenue to the IRS triggered tripwires set up to find local businesses operating without licenses. "The IRS is the fastest way to find them, though we have other avenues that we don't advertise."

City officials say they did not target blogs specifically... only sites running ads and, therefore, making money, are subject to the business license requirements. Just so you know, none of my blogs have any advertisements, so it doesn't apply to me.

"Some of those blogger folks didn't realize when their passions became a business," the city rep said. "We haven't singled anybody out. We love the self-employed. Philly is a city with a creative economy." I don't use profanity on this blog, so I won't say what they are all full of, but you can figure it out.

Ironically though, when I started this blog, I seriously considered running ads for profits and now, I'm glad I didn't. I wouldn't pay the city a red cent even if I was running ads. What they are attempting to do is unconstitutional and I'm waiting for someone to challenge them in court. Stay tuned...

The Maverick of All Bloggers!