Ben Franklin is probably rolling in his grave right now. Philadelphia, where Franklin published his Pennsylvania Gazette and political commentary that inspired the founding of this nation, has discovered that blogging is a potential source of revenue to pay for its years of overspending and fiscal mismanagement. According to Philadelphia City Paper, the city has been telling bloggers that they need a $300 business privilege license.
From the City Paper: “For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic, a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she's made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it's a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.”
Bess received a letter that she had to fork over $300 for a business privilege license. When she tried to appeal the ruling, she was told to hire an accountant. According to City Paper, the city requires a business privilege license on “any activity for profit.” Even though the blogging may be infrequent and the profit negligible, the city views the potential for profit as enough to require the license. Since many blogs are rely on advertising to operate at a low or no cost, the advertising is enough to incur the fee.
Philly’s license fee is essentially a tax, raising the cost of doing business. Blogging is not a profitable business to begin with, as almost any blogger will attest to. By raising the cost of this business, the license fee discourages the blogging, which is becoming an important part of economic activity and the exchange of ideas in society. Does Philadelphia really want to be discouraging economic activity right now, especially activity generated by small businesses?
There is now talk of a bill circulating in the Philadelphia City Council that will modify the fee requirement. Let’s hope that the City Council exempts blogging or repeals it altogether. I think that would put Ben Franklin at ease.