Philadelphia - Six candidates for City Council, running as outsiders against the status quo, showed up at Grace Tavern last night to speak to gathered members of Philadelphia Forward, a tax-cutting nonprofit headed up by Brett Mandel.

Mandel, who sat on the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission in 2003, believes that at least some, if not all, of the commission's recommendations will be implemented.
"I'm confident that if the next City Council doesn't deliver something genuine, they're going to disappoint many Philadelphians and will likely not be City Council people for long," Mandel said.  Mandel wants the Business Privilege Tax completely eliminated. "The fact that it exists, is an impediment to doing business in Philadelphia. Other cities don't have it. Other competitor jurisdictions don't have it," Mandel said. "If you want less of something, you tax more of it. Philadelphia - we don't consider job creation 'economic development,' we consider a 'privilege' to be taxed, which shows how perverse we are in terms of taxes."
Democratic Council-at-large candidate Andy Toy said, if elected, he won't completely eliminate the BPT, but will eliminate the gross-receipts portion of the tax.  "We've been raising taxes and losing jobs and business and people for the last 30-plus years," Toy said.  As Special Projects Director in the City Commerce Department under the Rendell administration, he helped implement the Brownfields program - transforming environmentally challenging sites for economic development.  He also had to oversee plant closings in the city.  "A lot of them were going other places because our tax system was making it easy for them to pick another place to go to," Toy said.

Republican at-large candidate Patricia Mattern, an attorney, is completely against the BPT, not only for economic reasons, but personal reasons. Her grandparents opened a flower shop nearly 100 years ago.
"When I see the Business Privilege Tax, it makes it very difficult for anyone to start their own business. The average person can live their dreams and work in Philadelphia and not have to leave the city," Mattern said.
Ray Bailey, who served as the secretary for the International Longshoremen Local 1332, is challenging five other Democrats for the 4th District Council seat. The City Democratic Committee selected Carol Campbell to fill the spot after Michael Nutter resigned to run for mayor. Bailey wouldn't commit to cutting the BPT, but said he will focus on spending city dollars efficiently. He wants to devote more resources for job training.
"Not everybody is college material, but they should train and learn how to provide a service. If we can train people to provide a service, I think we can deal with the poverty and violence in our community," Bailey said.
Damon K. Roberts is challenging Council President Anna Verna in the Democratic Primary for the 2nd Council District seat. He lived in poverty with his mother and three siblings in New York City before winning a scholarship to Harvard University and becoming an attorney.  "Things were hard. But it was then at that time, experiencing poverty, that I developed a conviction for making a difference for people who couldn't make a difference for themselves," Roberts said. Roberts couldn't commit to cutting taxes, but wants to if it could be shown that it wouldn't have a big impact on city services.  "My biggest concern is the fact that over half the kids in South and Southwest Philadelphia are dropping out of high school - 52 percent of kids in South Philly are dropping out of school, 55 percent of kids in Southwest Philadelphia are dropping out of high school," Roberts said.

The Rev. Jesse Brown, a Lutheran pastor in the city for 18 years, is focused more on combating casinos in the city.  "The casinos were dropped in on us - all of Pennsylvania - without the people of Pennsylvania having one iota of say. And now we have forced the issue to the point where we're right at the door to at least have a referendum on the ballot on the May 15 Primary," Brown said.  Brown, who's running for an at-large seat in the Democratic Primary, wants to restructure government to respond to the needs of neighborhoods.

Derek Green has an impressive array of experience. Running for City Council at-large in the Democratic Primary, Green served as a legislative aid to Councilwoman Marian Tasco, as well as state Rep. John Meyers and Cherelle Parker. He also served as a deputy city solicitor and assistant district attorney, as well as a banking lender and small business owner with his wife.  Green is open to tax cuts but doesn't want to cut funding to city recreation centers.  "We shouldn't be fighting to keep recreation centers open, we should be fighting to expand them," Green said. Philadelphia voters will nominate five at-large candidates, as well as their District Council races, in their party primaries May 15.

William Mulgrew can be reached at news@thebulletin.us