tax abatements

On Monday November 11th 2009, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that it will abandon its $300 million dollar world research-and-development headquarters in New London CT.  This comes only  four years after a Pfizer-inspired development plan resulted in the landmark Kelo v. New London Supreme Court ruling, which sanctioned the use of eminent domain for private development.

Friday, Jonathan Stein from Community Legal Services and a past member of the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission got a letter to the editor published in the Philadelphia Inquirer calling for an end to Philadelphia's 10-year tax abatements for the "super-rich." The letter is reprinted below.