Policy Lunch 6/26 | Local Taxes and Suburbanization: Evidence from Philadelphia's Wage Tax

This Friday, June 26th, join us for a special policy lunch co-hosted by BPN and the Progress & Poverty Institute (PPI) about an eye-opening new paper about the impact of local tax policy on regional jobs and suburbanization.

City leaders have long known that Philly’s upside-down tax structure funnels jobs out of the city and into the suburbs, but now we have a real model of how large the effect is, and the scale of the expected benefits from reforming it.

Virtual guest speaker Dr. René Livas, Harvard Public Policy PhD, will present his recent paper “Local Taxes and Suburbanization: Evidence from Philadelphia’s Wage Tax.” Dr. Livas’s research finds that “[r]eplacing [Philadelphia’s] wage tax with a non-distortionary land value tax would bring 26,000 jobs from the suburbs into Philadelphia. Such gains triple when we allow for producrtivity agglomeration forces.”

Here’s a free link to the paper:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5grej4l9znl1s7mmyaefl/wagetax_draft.pdf?rlkey=b1fdjai2ooja5rj9fffd8my4s&e=1&dl=0

Join us in-person for lunch this Friday, 6/26 at Econsult Solutions (1435 Walnut St, 4th Floor), or virtually via the link:

Join for In-Person Lunch

Join Virtually

The in-person event starts at noon, and the virtual program will begin by 12:15. Thanks to our friends at Econsult for hosting us, and to Russell Richie at PPI in advance for finagling the virtual/blended meeting logistics.

Subscribe to BPN’s Substack to learn about future lunches. RSVP at the button above for individual events.