P.M. BRIEFING : Philly Employers Help Out City
Some of the city’s largest employers have agreed to prepay about $50 million in wage taxes to help the city out of its financial crisis, it was reported today.
The University of Pennsylvania and Bell Atlantic Corp., the city’s largest private employers, as well as other businesses have agreed to pay wage taxes through June, the Philadelphia Inquirer said. That would boost the city’s coffers by about $50 million and give the city badly needed operating cash.
The money represents 5% of the total the city expected to collect in wage taxes this fiscal year, the Inquirer said.
Mayor W. Wilson Goode has said the city will run out of money Dec. 1 unless it can sell $375 million in short-term notes to get it through until tax revenues start rolling in in the spring.
The city has been unable to find a bank willing to guarantee the notes on Wall Street. Help from the state is unlikely until after the Nov. 6 election because support of the city is seen as a political liability for suburban and rural lawmakers.
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