A Pennsylvania judge ruled that Harrisburg’s City Council must double an income-tax rate on residents to help pay for essential services in Pennsylvania's capital, Bloomberg News reported today. The tax would climb to 2 percent from 1 percent for a year under the ruling yesterday by Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Leadbetter. The move was sought by William B. Lynch, the state receiver trying to fix a financial crisis in the insolvent city of almost 49,700. The city, where 30 percent of residents live in poverty, owes more than $300 million on debt tied to an overhaul and expansion of a trash-to-energy plant that does not produce enough revenue to cover the obligations. Besides boosting the tax, which would yield about $5.1 million in 2013, Lynch’s plan calls for the sale of municipal assets, including the incinerator.
