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City Council Moves to Shield Artists' Earnings from Business Privilege Tax as Debate Continues Over Fairness

Official:Amending Chapter 19-2600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Business Privilege Taxes," to provide for an exclusion from the definition of "receipts" for receipts of certain artists, under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember Ramos

Introduced: April 26, 2007

: Committee of the Whole

business historic preservation taxation

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2004–2007 Council term and when that term ran out. The public record shows no committee vote and no floor vote at any stage, so no member of Council ever went on record for or against it.

That is not unusual here. Of the 8,465 bills introduced between 2000 and 2025, 1,624 lapsed without a single recorded vote. Ninety percent of bills that became law carry a roll call. Three percent of lapsed bills do. How this works.

Plain-Language Summary

This bill amends Philadelphia's business privilege tax law to exclude certain artists from paying taxes on their receipts.

What This Bill Does

AI-written. Every figure is checked against the bill text.

Excludes receipts of certain artists from the definition of "receipts" for purposes of the business privilege tax.
Applies this exclusion only to artists who meet certain terms and conditions, but the bill does not specify what these terms and conditions are.
Amends Chapter 19-2600 of The Philadelphia Code, which is the section of the code that deals with business privilege taxes.
Does not change the definition of "receipts" for businesses other than artists, or for businesses in the insurance industry.