Philadelphia Taxpayers on the Hook for $45,300

Truth in Accounting released their annual report on the debt for America’s 10 largest cities. The City Combined Taxpayer Burden Report includes the city’s largest underlying government units, such as counties and school districts. With the exception of New York City, most municipalities do not include in their annual financial reports the finances of large, underlying government units for which city taxpayers are also responsible. When adding the Taxpayer Burden of these underlying government units with the city and state Taxpayer Burden, it is clear that the debt is much greater than what one would assume.

Philadelphia taxpayers are on the hook for a combined Taxpayer Burden of $45,300. This is substantially more money than what San Jose or Phoenix residents owe to their governments. Philadelphia’s city debt is $25,700 per taxpayer, but more debt is added by the state of Pennsylvania and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

Contrastly, Philadelphia’s Housing Authority has a $900 Taxpayer Surplus. This means the Housing Authority has more than enough money to pay its bills, resulting in a surplus. Unlike other cities, Philadelphia has few underlying governments. This means that other residents in populated cities, not including Philadelphia, pay larger amounts of taxes to cities with many underlying governments’ unfunded debts.

This report analyzes the fiscal health of the 10 most populous U.S. cities pre-COVID-19. In conclusion, Truth in Accounting’s analysis aims to help readers understand the implications of city, county, and underlying governmental units’ debts, which creates high levels of Taxpayer Burdens for individuals living within cities that need proper resources to function and stay afloat. Overall, this report highlights the financial struggles each city went into the pandemic with and we can assume the fiscal health of these cities worsened during the pandemic.

Anna D'Aprile is a Press and Communications Intern at Truth in Accounting