A little under a week ago the Twitterverse, Facebook and other social platforms along with many news sites were clamoring over an article written by a Philadelphia paper called Philadelphia Citypaper titled, "Got a blog that makes no money? The city wants $300, thank you very much."
Philadelphia has an old licensing fee called, "Business Privilege Tax" that has been around for along time but is just now finding its way into the blogosphere for anyone in Philadelphia that has a blog.
"Every individual, partnership, association and corporation engaged in a business, profession or other activity for profit within the City of Philadelphia must file a Business Privilege Tax Return, whether or not they earned a profit during the preceding year." - BPT Description (PDF Link).
I'm a small business owner as are the majority of the readers at the moment. With the responsibility of being a small business owner, I understand the idea and requirements of paying taxes on money generated and even needing a licensing fee. There are advantages to paying taxes and my yearly licensing dues as there are with your own fees you have to pay.
I have a few concerns about the taxation and licensing fees on bloggers though that are wrapped around freedom of speech and entrepreneurship growth in particular that are really bothering me and concerns me should other cities nationwide follow in Philadelphia's footsteps.
Freedom of Speech
Negative: Since bloggers have entered the scene, we no longer have to rely 100% on what reporters from big time newspapers are sharing with us. We now have the option to see viewpoints from every possible angle much like this post here. How many people in Philadelphia do you think will foot the $300 lifetime licensing fee just to share their opinion?
Entrepreneurship Growth
Negative: Ideas abound from people like you and I who share their thoughts with others and before you know it you have something useful and may lead to a business model where you can make a comfortable living off of. However most people with ideas don't have a lot of money, especially in economical times like these and without the freedom of speech to share in this medium, their idea may never come to pass.
I wish I could add a poll on this post but since, to my knowledge, I can't... what are your thoughts on this topic? I'm particularly interested in knowing your thoughts on the following questions:
- Would you pay a "Privilege Tax" in your area to continue blogging on Active Rain or other platforms?
- Is such a fee fair if a blogger makes no money even if they attempted to monetize but couldn't? Isn't that how it is with any small business though?
- If your a Philly AR member, have you paid your BPT yet?
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Interesting. Do you have to pay this "Business Privilege Tax" for being a licensed Realtor? Isn't this something the brokerage would have? I can see it from that perspective, but not simply because individuals are blogging.
A somewhat similar situation has arose in my market area. The governing entity has mandated a "license" for homeowners who rent their property in lieu of homesteading it. Seems to me this is a tax for no reason.