Why bloggers should put up, shut up, and pay their taxes

Figure out whether your writing is a business or just ‘a hobby,’ and proceed accordingly.

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Ragan Insider Content

Figure out whether your writing is a business or just ‘a hobby,’ and proceed accordingly

You’ve probably heard about it already. Last week the Philadelphia City Paper posted an article discussing the city’s Business Privilege Tax that taxes residents who engage in any sort of “activity for profit”—even if the activity has never profited them as much as a latte. Ever. The trouble started when bloggers discovered this tax applied to them and they, predictably, went out-of-their-mind berserk. Blog posts were written, tweets were ALL CAPS LOCKED, and I even had one person tell me it was unconstitutional to tax a blogger. [I did a Ctrl+F on the Constitution to verify this but couldn’t find any mention of “blog.” Sorry.]

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