Interactive Map Shows Tax Burden on Pottstown Residents

Do you think the residents of the city are milking money from its suburbs? When it comes to tax dollars, one organization has taken an indepth look at the City of Brotherly Love and who is paying what.

Pew Trusts has released an interactive map that shows the tax burden for Philadelphia and it's suburbs for a hypothetical family of two adults and two children.

The chart shows what a family pays in property, income and sales taxes in each municipality studied in 2000 versus 2012.

According to Pew Trusts, the median household income for the entire region in 2000 was $47,500, which has increased to $60,000.

Pottstown Borough pays an average of 2.1 percent more than the typical family in Philadelphia. That means, each year, the average family living in the borough is paying $1,249 more per year than a family in the city.

Why the difference? In Pottstown, the higher taxes come from a local burden. In other words, once Pew factored out the state taxes, it seems the borough's own tax burden is the cause of the increase.

According to Pew's map, Pottstown residents are paying 11.9% of their total family income toward local taxes. In Philadelphia, a family averages only 9.8% to local taxes. 

What does it all boil down to? Pottstown Borough residents are paying $7,146 per year to support local-only tax systems. That's more than the city's residents.

Do you want to see how your municipality stacks up? To learn more, click here.