Philadelphia Mayor Cracks Down On Tax Evaders, Finds Out He Is One
Philadelphia's mayor, John Street, also known as the "iPhone Mayor," (because he camped out for an iPhone) told Philadelphia he was cracking down on tax scofflaws... only to find out that he is one.
From KYW:
About three weeks ago Mayor Street announced an aggressive effort to reclaim one-third of the $700 million that the city is owed in back property taxes:Street says the bills were going to the wrong address and is now asking Philadelphia residents to please provide accurate addresses to the Revenue Department by calling 215-686-6442.
"If the taxes are delinquent, you will have to pay."
A local newspaper did some digging and found that among those who owe money is John Franklin Street, our mayor. The Philadelphia Daily News found that he had not paid taxes on two of his four North Philadelphia properties since 2003, and owed $4,800.The mayor's spokesman, Joe Grace, says after the newspaper called, Street wrote a check:
"As soon as it came to the mayor's attention, the mayor immediately issued a check for $4,798 to pay those tax bills in full."
We don't mean to be unkind or anything, but Mayor Street seems like a bit of a dumbass.
Whoops, Says Mayor, After Being Tagged as Tax Scofflaw [KYW via TaxProfBlog]
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Comments:
Given government incompetence, I can see how this can accidentally happen to someone.
What a maroon.
Come on guys, I'm sure he didn't realize it. After all when it was broght to his attention he paid immediately. I respect that myself.
I'm not sure.....
1) He has 4 properties and probably is well not super rich but wealthy. I assume has has an accountant. If he does, then he is an idiot and the accountant probably did it on purpose.
2) If he handled all his stuff himself. Then yeah completely understandable. I mean there was a story on consumerist a while back about a couple who's house got taken away because IRS was sending the stuff to the wrong place. This guy's situation might be the same except not as bad because he owns 4 places.
Uhh...you don't pay property taxes for 4 years and don't realize it?
Not likely.
Oopsie.
Hehe, at least he's owning up to it. Guess we all make mistakes.
@Buran: "Given government incompetence"?
As the mayor, he's the head of that incompetence. And trust me, I lived in Philly for 4 years, and it's pretty incompetent.
Hello ironic twist!
Having the wrong address is not an unusual occurrence. Just a misplaced number or letter could result in a complete error. Just one letter could change the entire street. Like from St. to Ct. or a switch of letters could easily be a typo like in Rd. to Dr. Or the mailman could just send it to the wrong house on accident. Many times I've had magazines or even bills sent to the house before or after mine just by the mistake of the mailman.
@Mojosan:
I'm with you. He never said "Geez, I haven't paid any property taxes on those 2 sites? I wonder what's going on there?"
PBBBBTTTT! Liar, liar, pants on fire.
I've got a friend here in Philly who's job it is to call people who don't pay their property taxes. I'll have to ask him if he got to call Mayor Street.
I don't know how this dumbass got elected (probably was good at putting on a show).
Before ''cracking down'', he should have paid his taxes.
If he gets re-elected, I'll laugh.
(oh well, Bush did get re-elected, so the mayor shouldn't give up trying ;)
Having grown up near Philadelphia, and my father hating John Street since his lawyer days, it's a pretty well rumored fact that Mayor Street has never paid taxes and was a crook a long time before he was ever voted in. Thus the reason my family (and many others) moved out of Philadelphia.
@bradlevinson: I highly doubt everyone who runs a large organization knows of every single thing that goes on in it, no matter how hard they try.
this poor guy is battin 1000. first he gets reamed out by some righteous punk (as if there are any other kind), then this. maybe he's shooting for the "look at me... i'm stupid... just like you" thing Bush has going for him.
Wow, a politician who's a crook... who'da thunk it?
There's an old saying about cleaning up your own back yard before knocking on your neighbor's door... I believe that applies to the good Mayor Street.
At least HE was waiting in line for the iphone, not some flunky. Although, after he was busted out a flunky probably did have to wait in line. And it appears he didn't try and cut either.
My taxes are taken out by my mortgate company (escrow). Must be nice to own property free and clear of the bank.
He *is* a dumbass. And a thug. And all the other unpleasant things you might want to call him.
Why was he re-elected? There is a reason, but well... it wouldn't be politic to mention it here.
He's too busy celebrating Philadelphia's ascent to the top of the list for having the highest murder rate of the ten largest cities in America to bother with paying property taxes.
"Taxes!?! We talkin' 'bout TAXES!?!"
If they named a road after this guy would it be Street Street? btw: Give the guy a break, he has four houses.
Dumbass? Come on guys, at least he put his money where his mouth was.
I agree, he is all gung ho on getting back taxes paid and as soon as he found out he had some, he owned up to it and paid... the only problem now would be if that check bounced... LOL
@chouchou: His last re-election was happened while the FBI had wiretaps in his office for corruption. I lived in Philly then, and it was the first time I voted Republican. Didnt help though, he still won. Philly is awesome, but it sucks.
I am slowly forgetting about it now that I live in Kalifornistan.
Wrong address? No property tax bills should be sent to anywhere except the address of the property.
He is an idiot and we're glad he's leaving office soon. The best was when his brother, who makes Mayor Street look sane and useful, was running to succeed him.
Good times in Philadelphia politics. I feel like I'm living in DC under the Barry administration again.
I wonder if he took the property taxes that he DIDN'T pay as tax deductions on four years' tax returns...
5 grand? Yawn.