Mayor Michael Nutter is taking a page from a Philly icon, heavyweight champ Joe Frazier.
The mayor is coming out smoking.
If you light up, or you like an occasional cocktail, you might want to do both before you enter the city limits.
That's because Mayor Nutter is on the hunt for more money for city schools. A lot more money. And guess where he's looking? He can't really go to homeowners, what with the fallout from the city's controversial AVI assessment changes still being debated. There's also the fact that he's raised property taxes in both of the last two years.
So the mayor is falling back on that old political standby, the sin tax. Nutter wants to slap an additional whopping $2 a pack for cigarettes and also hike the city's liquor by the drink tax from 10 to 15 percent.
I can see convenience stores in the eastern end of Delco, close to the Philly border, seeing a big uptick in cigarette sales. Two dollars a pack is a pretty big hit on what is already the outrageous cost of cigarettes. Maybe the mayor is going to pitch it as a health push, an effort to get people to give up their cigs and booze.
Nutter hopes the plan will raise $95 million for schools next year and $135 million the year after that.
It also no doubt will raise the hackles of smokers and bar owners, both of whom will be paying through the nose for their particular vice. A pack of smokes already costs in the neighborhood of six bucks in Pennsylvania.
And if you like a cigarette while enjoying a cocktail, well you're facing a double-whammy.
Maybe Delaware County should erect some billboards on the eastern border with the city: Welcome to Delaware County, home of cheaper cigarettes.
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