The Power to Tax

The Philadephia City Paper reports on a new scam by the government of the City of Philadelphia to raise revenue.

For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic, a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she's made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it's a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.

In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.

Of course, the first mistake was reporting whatever pittance she was earnng from the blog.

She's not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.

Read the rest here.

This new interpretation of an existing law also gives the city the power to shut down blogs they deem threatening or embarassing. The Washington Examiner has this to say:

To say that these kinds of draconian measures are detrimental to the public discourse would be an understatement.

That may, in fact, be the real purpose.

H/T to David Codrea.

I Hate Reading Stuff Like This

Pizza Deliveryman Shot, Killed During Robbery
2nd Pizza Deliveryman Killed In Less Than 2 Weeks

A pizza deliveryman was shot and killed during a robbery in the Belmont section of Philadelphia.

Authorities say the victim, who works for Accu Pizza, was shot while making a delivery at 41st and Aspen Streets at about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Read the entire article here

The second one in less than two weeks? How many people have to die to before the idiots in charge learn? The predators are only getting better at trapping their prey and the worthless politicians are still protecting the killers. Don't resist. Give them what they want. Just once I'd like the hear a goddamn cop say something like:

Look people. There are vicious predators out there who don't give a damn about your life. They will kill you for pocket change and just watch you die. We cannot protect you! Get a gun. Learn to use it. Then when some animal tries to rob or hurt you, shoot the son of a bitch. Call us and report shots fired. We'll show up and make sure the right person got shot.

Is that to much to ask?

H/T to David Codrea