City council exempts hedge fund, investment firms from business taxes

City Council passed legislation today exempting private investment and hedge funds and their general managers from paying city business taxes.

“We collect no taxes from them today because they’re not here,” said Councilman Bill Green, who introduced the measure. “We will collect more revenue, not less, from bringing investment funds and the firms in which they invest into the city.”

Green said that, ideally, he wants to conduct broader tax reform across multiple sectors, but the legislation will serve as a compromise until Philadelphia has a mayor who agrees with his vision. The Nutter administration supports his legislation, he said.

Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. cast the lone vote against Green’s bill. He called his nay a “vote of conscience” and said that he couldn’t agree to exempt hedge fund managers from taxes when he heard stories of so many regular people who are struggling to get by, especially in light of the fact that real estate taxes are about to rise as a result of the Actual Value Initiative.