The Consumerist reports that if you're a Philadelphia based blogger, you need to purchase a business license for $300 if you want to continue blogging. Why? Well, because blogs are populated with advertisements, Philadelphia considers blogging is a business. Never mind that most bloggers make hardly a penny from blogging, according to Philadelphia, if you blog you're officially running a business.
So much for the purpose of blogs being the dissemination of ideas, information and opinions. You can still do that in Philadelphia, but it's going to cost you. This story was originally reported on City Paper, where you can read more about Philly's new money grab.
What do you think? Should bloggers be treated as a business? Or does imposing a mandatory fee on blogging prevent bloggers from exercising their first amendment rights?
Good luck collecting that. The American Revolution put an end to press taxes.
ReplyDeleteIf a person runs a Web site that makes revenue, they have a business. If a person writes personal correspondence, no matter the venue in which it is published, it is personal activity and not business activity.