Good morning, President Clarke, members of Council,

ladies and gentlemen. I'm Robert Taylor,

President of Local 700 with the Transport

Workers Union. I'm also a commentator on

WPEB 88.1, the Jasper Jones Show. I am

commenting today on Bill No. 120340-AAA.

I want to thank Councilmembers

Jones, Clarke, Oh, Goode, Tasco,

Greenlee, Kenney, Henon, Johnson, Blackwell, O'Brien, Sanchez, O'Neill, Brown, Squilla, and Bass. This is an ordinance that is going to amend The Philadelphia Code authorizing and granting of tax exemptions to longtime owner-occupants of certain properties in Philadelphia.

I'm in favor of all tax relief, especially relief to homeowners. It is terrible to see anyone put out on the street because they couldn't afford to pay their taxes. So I think that this is great. Of course, I would like to go further to say that I hope that these lower taxes can be extended generally, for the power to tax is also the power to

destroy. We should, of course, as a city

be enabling our people to create new

businesses and to hold on to their

properties.

Thank you.