Budget at a Glance

Note that Philadelphia’s Personal (Personnel) costs equate to 63% of the Total Obligations in the 2026 budget. Compare that to Chester County, where the number is 35%. Philadelphia’s number screams bloated government!

Note that 72% of Total Revenue is derived from Taxes. A list of all the taxes charged to property owners, workers, businesses, and others is shown in the above chart.

The city wage tax will be decreased in 2026, but workers may not feel much of an impact in their paychecks. Resident workers’ rate will go from 3.75% to 3.74%, while workers who reside outside the city will see their wage tax rate go from 3.44% to 3.43%.

The Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT) also are reduced in this budget with the eventual goal of eliminating them by 2039! Net income tax will go from 5.81% to 5.71%, while the gross receipts tax drops from 0.1415% to 0.141%.

Additional Debt

One of the big ticket items that Mayor Parker sought in this budget was her $2 billion Housing Opportunities Made Easy (H.O.M.E.) initiative whose goal is to build 30,000 housing units while also improving or preserving existing homes. To accomplish this, City Council passed a bill approving an $800 million bond issuance, which will be split into two offerings late this year and next. The bondholder will be the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

Bottom line…

The FY 2026 Philadelphia budget seems to continue the spending that got the city into such a dire financial situation in the first place. The efforts to keep businesses from shuttering their doors by lowering taxes by such a paltry amount is insignificant in the scheme of things. Philadelphia has a significant poverty problem. Rather than following the proverb, “teach a man to fish,…” it seems city leaders rely on Robin Hood’s methods.

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