Not in Cleveland: Philadelphia’s Blogger Tax

Philly is taxing bloggers? The humanity!

The news that Philadelphia City Council has a proposal in place to tax bloggers didn’t go over well. In fact, it may be the most uniting thing to hit the blog and social sphere since never.

If this is news to you, the Philadelphia City Paper, states the issue thusly:

In June, City Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez unveiled a proposal to reform the city’s business privilege tax in an effort to make Philly a more attractive place for small businesses. If their bill passes, bloggers will still have to get a privilege license if their sites are designed to make money, but they would no longer have to pay taxes on their first $100,000 in profit.

Essentially, the proposal states that if your blog places ads on your site – and someone actually clicks – you need to pay taxes on the first $100K and obtain a business-privilege license, at a cost of $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime. But not because you’re a blogger, but because you’re a small business.  The news went viral (ugh) when a few bloggers in Philadelphia were honest enough to inform the IRS they made a few bucks from their blog, and the city informed them to pay up.

While the Philadelphia blog scene burns with fire and brimstone, I wondered: What is Cleveland City Council’s take on the law and does Cleveland have a similar law on the books?

Cleveland City Council spokesman James Kopniske responded dutifully and promptly:

The City of Cleveland does not have a similar law to the one passed in Philadelphia. Such an ordinance is not on our radar, nor a focus of Cleveland City Council. Bloggers, like any other businesses or freelancers, must follow all the applicable laws and ordinances that cover any small business including declaring income and paying taxes if they live or work in the city of Cleveland.

Phew. With all the bad press Cleveland has received over the last year, it’s good to hear the Forest City escaped this nonsense. Long live the Cleve.