Does Blogging Pay? Not in Philly!

The city of Philadelphia recently sent bills out to its resident bloggers stating that they owe the city $300.00, (the price of a business privilege license), plus taxes on any profits they’ve made.

The city requires a business privilege license for any business engaged in any activity for profit, this applies whether the business makes a profit or not.

The Philadelphia City Paper tells the story of one local blogger’s reaction;

For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic, a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she’s made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it’s a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.

In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.

“The real kick in the pants is that I don’t even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous,” Bess says.

 I have never considered the idea of allowing advertising on my blog, mostly because I know my government, but most ‘small time’ bloggers who do, only make enough money in a year to buy a small bag of groceries.  Now the city of Philadelphia expects them to fork out money for a banquet.

Advertising on a blog does not pay and it can cost you much more than you might earn.  It was only a couple of years ago that Washington State regulators are wondering whether online political activism amounted to lobbying, which would force political bloggers to file public reports detailing their finances.