Mayor Nutter’s New School Aid Plan Will Make Drinking, Smoking More Expensive


CBS Philly reports:

Mayor Michael Nutter today announced a funding package that will give the School District of Philadelphia an additional $95 million in the next fiscal year, even more than the $60 million the school district had requested from the city to fill its latest budget hole (see related story).

The mayor says the package includes an increase in the liquor-by-the-drink tax from 10 percent to 15 percent, effective July 1st.  That is expected to raise $22 million.

In addition, the city is adding an additional tax of $2 per pack of cigarettes, over and above the city and state taxes currently placed on tobacco products.  From the time it would go into effect on January 1st of next year until the end of the school district’s fiscal year in July 2014, the new cigarette tax is expected to raise $45 million for the city’s public schools.

“And fun!” the mayor probably thought. “I want a 100 percent tax on fun!”