While the specific question before Judge Leadbetter is whether or not the Receiver can order Harrisburg City Council to raise taxes, ultimately Commonwealth Court will decide what receivers in the State of Pennsylvania can and cannot do. Attorney for the Office of the Receiver, Mark Kaufman of McKenna Long & Aldridge, held the position that a legislative body's power can be suspended if that body frustrates a fiscal recovery plan, which is what the Receiver is claiming Harrisburg City Council is doing by not increasing the Earned Income Tax (EIT) on city residents.

Kaufman also asserted that Harrisburg City Council's failure to levy the tax impedes ongoing negotiations with creditors unwilling to make concessions if the City doesn't do enough to generate revenue to close the debt gap. Kaufman claimed raising the EIT is "little pain now to save a lot more in the future."---Tara Leo Auchey

Photo/Natalie Cake