Blogging Taxes Are Here
I guess something like this was just a matter of time and something we can expect others to implement, UNLESS it is stopped by making it public knowledge:
…just for the privilege to write! If this is not a direct assault on Freedom Of Speech – I don’t know what is! Yes, granted they didn’t tell bloggers to stop writing but knowing the statistics on income average bloggers generates – $300 tax a year in addition to all other taxes imposed on bloggers will effectively silence them!
Consider this…
According to 2009 State Of Blogosphere…
72% of respondents are classified as Hobbyists, meaning that they report no income related to blogging.
That means 3/4 of the bloggers from Philadelphia use blogs as a hobby, personal journal where they share their opinion! Opinion that City Of Philadelphia obviously doesn’t want to be heard!
Image is from technorati:
But it gets even worse – because according to the stats provided by Technorati‘s report – ONLY 17% of the bloggers who do it professionally derive their primary income from the blogs!
That is 17% of the 28% of the total number of people taking part in survey!
I know many bloggers who struggle and those who succeed and I can tell first hand that paying $300 plus all additional draconian taxes that city have chosen to impose of them will kill the very Freedom Of Speech guaranteed to us by U.S. Constitution!
Not by prohibiting it but by Taxing It!
It appears our freedoms are up for grabs by unscrupulous politicians to cover their frivolous expenses!
Is Your City Next to Tax You?
Spread the word and let it be known to prevent this from happening!
Related Philadelphia Tax articles
- Philadelphia Tax Code Sparks Big Controversy with Small Bloggers (mashable.com)
- Philadelphia Wants $300 Business License From Bloggers Who Make No Money (readwriteweb.com)
- Philadelphia Imposing “Blogger Tax” ? (outsidethebeltway.com)
- Is Philly taxing bloggers? (philly.com)
- Philly Wants Bloggers to Pay $300 Tax (chicagonow.com)
- Philly Is Not the “City of Blogger-ly Love” (marketingpilgrim.com)
- Blogging Tax Coming To A City Near You (revenews.com)
- Philadelphia Wants $300 Business License From Bloggers Who Make No Money (nytimes.com)
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If they’re only taxing businesses that operate out of Philly then this isn’t as much of a problem as the original premise that they are taxing blogs. This would mean that hobby bloggers wouldn’t need to pay and those running a business would only pay once, no matter how many actual blogs they run since it is only 1 business.
I wonder if people who run MLM out of their home are required to pay? And is the $300 the same for other types of businesses?
WOW! I didn’t see this one coming! I guess they’re really catching on to everyone who’s making money off of blogs. I’m not sure how I feel about this but I’m interested to see how it will affect people.
Mandy June recently posted..Is Medical Tourism a Safe Alternative to US Healthcare Costs
I can tell you that I will never pay such a high tax for blogging, not in my country. I fill so sorry for people living in Philadelphia
Paul recently posted..How to Earn Money Online With Shareasale
There are many places where you are already required to have a business license in order to operate a business from home, which writing is if you are making money from it and claiming deductions. The question to me is, how much it is reasonable for a city to charge for this license?
Alison – it is a god question in my opinion although it wasn’t what originally prompted this post.
Hopefully enough people will refuse to pay so this becomes a public battle. Since it is difficult to say who is blogging in a city, and who is doing it as a business (and if they are not the tax is a direct attack on freedom of speech, the enforcement will be largely unpredictable and arbitrary. Of course, the arbitrary power to go after this or that blogger could result in targeting those who are exercising their freedom of speech in ways the city doesn’t like. I personally wouldn’t pay the tax if I lived there, but then after a post like this I might be targeted. If there is a city business tax, revenue from blogging should already be taxed under that. Why specifically go after people because they choose to express their ideas and opinions?
This is a joke! The blogging community would be in outrage, blog about their outrage, and refuse to pay!
That, or the tax would practically shut the Internet down!
“Sorry, closed for business, back when it back to the good old free days.”
Christopher Roberts recently posted..BBC Lose £240k of Technology
This is maybe a bit of topic, but for those interested in taxes it is a bit fun to think of that personal income tax was optional before the FEd was fouded.. I would recomend a movie Aaron Russo by the name America from freedom to fascism for those with a open mind..http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772153/
bj recently posted..WordPress anti spam plugin
I can’t really decide my side about this matter. If I go for yes, blogging taxes must be implemented, some bloggers might raise their point that they aren’t earning that much in blogging. If I say no, how about the big earners in blogging? Government at least get something from them right?
Cole Stan recently posted..Find The Best Christmas Gifts For Your Clients
It reminds me of the poll tax, which required people to pay in order to vote. They are basically saying that you don’t have a voice if you can’t pay. That means that people without money would have no voice.
There are taxes almost everywhere
I am quite sure, they are going to tax us for owning a Gmail account.
I enjoy your site – I would like to talk with you about buying ad space here granted you do that. Hit me up at the email I provided and we can talk about, thanks mate.
The more bloggers know about this the better, otherwise it will only snowball. Next they’ll be taxing us on what we say in public parks…hello constitution.
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While this is certainly an interesting and tricky issue from a tax point of view, I think some of the hyperbole here is a little laughable.
Comparing bloggers to Al Pacino, James Moralde, is ridiculous. Al Pacino is an actor, for one thing, but assuming you meant Al Capone, the situations are self-evidently not comparable.