(The Center Square) – Philadelphia carries the third-highest tax burden in the nation, meaning it’s short on its bills by roughly $17,000 per taxpayer.
Bested only by Chicago ($42,600) and New York City ($61,700), the latest data from Truth in Accounting shows that, despite a marginal improvement in 2024, Philadelphia could barely cover over half of its $20.1 billion spending.
The report calculated the city’s outstanding bills in 2024 at $20.1 billion, the most recent year for which data is available. Despite laws dictating that cities must balance budgets, Truth in Accounting points to common accounting tactics that mask the problem: counting loans as income, deferring payments and excluding the total cost of employee benefits…