Your Questions About Philadelphia Real Estate Taxes

Can’t you see Immigration Reform will resuscitate the stagnant US economy?

The United States, a nation of immigrants, has continually been dependent on successive waves of immigration to grow it economy. It is in large part thanks to these immigrants that the United States has prospered over the past few centuries.

I am not an economist but I am an Irish immigrant who has owned and managed a landscaping company, a real estate company and presently, a law firm and it seems to me that this country needs a multifaceted solution to solve our current economic crisis and Immigration Reform could very well be part of that solution.

According to most calculations, twelve million illegal immigrants (12,000,000) reside in the United States. Assuming that a two thousand dollar ($2,000.00) application fee is charged to twelve million illegal immigrants (12,000,000) that would generate approximately twenty-four billion dollars ($24,000,000,000) from this one time application fee that could be used to stimulate the U.S. economy.

More importantly, the twelve million illegal immigrants (12,000,000) would now be paying taxes for the first time and assuming that each individual is taxed in the 15% tax bracket and earning an annual income of $25,000.00, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would collect $3,750.00 per person which would amount to forty-five billion dollars ($45,000,000,000) per year in new taxes from these immigrants.

Immigration reform would stimulate the U.S. economy by generating sixty-nine billion dollars ($69,000,000,000) in application fees and taxes in the first year alone and forty-five billion dollars ($45,000,000,000) each year thereafter. Now that’s a stimulus package!

It goes without saying that Immigration Reform needs to be addressed immediately as an integral component of a strategic plan to resuscitate the stagnant US economy.

http://www.examiner.com/x-30431-Philadelphia-Immigration-Examiner~y2009m12d14-Immigration-Reform-will-resuscitate-the-stagnant-US-economy

What is the best Philly suburb to live in?

I currently live in Fairfax, VA (for those that aren’t familiar, it’s a suburb 18 miles outside Washington DC which is very developed with shopping, real estate, etc). I am looking to relocate to the Philadelphia area at the end of the year, but not within the city limits to avoid city wage tax. I’m looking for a developed suburban area with a good amount of young professionals, that offers a lot to do (shopping, restaurants, etc). I don’t want to be too far from the airport because I travel for my job. I’ve considered Conshohocken, West Chester, and areas along the Main Line (also KOP). If anyone has any insight about these or other areas, I’d really appreciate it!!!!!

Mayors Sound Alarm Over Drop in City Revenues where is all those billions in Hispanic buying power at?

WASHINGTON — Mayors from four U.S. cities said they are facing a once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis and that federal stimulus funds have, so far, been largely unhelpful in helping them balance budgets hit by steep drops in nearly every source of municipal revenue.

The comments, from mayors of Philadelphia, San Jose, Calif; Mesa, Ariz., and Bowling Green, Ky., at a panel discussion sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the National League of Cities, underscore how the recession for local government is far from over.

Mesa’s mayor, Scott Smith, said the steep drops in sales-tax revenue, the city’s primary source of money, are “changing our reality.”

“We treat this financial crisis as something we’re not going to get out of,” said Mr. Smith, whose city has about 500,000 citizens and is in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Even as economists declare the recession over, local revenues continue to fall. That’s because the lion’s share of their receipts — sales, income and property taxes — are connected to the job market and real-estate prices. Jobs and real-estate prices are expected to lag the broader economic recovery, reducing city revenues for months or years after the technical end of the recession.

“This is unknown for our generation,” said Chris Hoene, director of the center for research and innovation at the National League of Cities. Mr. Hoene said it was likely to be 18 to 24 months before local government revenues resume growing.

The mayors said deep budget gaps have forced them to make cuts to basic services including police and fire protection, that the financial crisis has turned cities and states against each other and that fiscal strains emphasize the need for money-saving changes to pension and health benefits in the heavily unionized public sector. “Change has to come and this moment of crisis is going to force it,” said Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia.

While federal stimulus funds have helped states close budget gaps and preserved jobs for many state and school-board employees, the mayors said federal money hasn’t done much to ease their day-to-day budget problems. “The stimulus is going to special things,” said Chuck Reed, mayor of San Jose.

Beyond budget and services cuts, the mayors discussed new ways to raise revenue at a time when incomes are stagnant and the national unemployment rate is at 10.2%. Philadelphia, for instance, has temporarily increased its sales tax while Mesa has levied a property tax for the first time.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125866320178356259.html

OK so, Risky business here, can it work?

Ok so i found a 54 unit apartment building located in philadelphia pa. My Friends and I were looking into buying real estate investment property’s and we think that this is a pretty good find. Well its 3 of us going in on it but we would like to add 2 more people to go in on it. The building costs $1.7million And it needs $300,000 to make all the apartments livable. It says it fully rented brings gross income of $455,000 a year. But then taxes, and any repairs along the way would bring that down to about $365,000 a year. heres the link tell me if you think its a good idea to buy this or to move on. http://www.addisonwolfe.com/listing/index.html?id=5525556&next=%2Flistings.html%3Faction%3Dd