Authorizing City Council's Committee of the Whole to hold public hearings on the procedures that the City currently employs to collect delinquent taxes, the effectiveness or shortcomings of those procedures, and the additional measures and resources required to improve the system for collecting delinquent taxes.

WHEREAS, It is essential that all those who pay taxes to the City and School District of Philadelphia have faith and trust in the fundamental fairness of the City's tax collection process; and

WHEREAS, This trust can exist only if it is clear that the City diligently, comprehensively, and in a timely manner pursues and collects the taxes that are due it. Published reports of cumulative unpaid taxes from prior years, however, support the conclusion that substantial unpaid amounts remain “on the table,” thereby engendering public distrust in the overall fairness of the tax collection system. Taxpayers who do pay their taxes on time and in full have reason to believe that they bear a disproportionate share of the cost of government; and

WHEREAS, In anticipation of the forthcoming proposed Operating Budget for FY2014 and the City's move to property assessments based on actual values (known as the Actual Value Initiative), it is critically important for Council and the public to understand clearly the tax collection procedures that are now in place. It is equally essential to identify additional measures that would be required to improve the system of tax collection; and further, to identify the technology, staff, training, legislation, and funding needed to achieve that goal; and

WHEREAS, On February 23, 2010, City Council held a hearing on the matter of delinquent taxes pursuant to Resolution 090894. It is now an appropriate time to obtain a comprehensive update on the measures discussed at that hearing; now, therefore,

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,

That the Committee of the Whole is authorized to hold hearings on the procedures that the City currently employs to collect delinquent taxes, the effectiveness or shortcomings of those procedures, and the additional measures and resources required to improve the system for collecting delinquent taxes.

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