During a City Hall press conference on April 15, 2026, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker gave a shocking reply to pushback from taxpayers over a dollar tax she plans to add to rideshares in order to provide additional funding to local public schools. Parker stated that taxpayers have no right to tell her how she can and cannot tax them.
The plan is an attempt by Parker’s administration to close a $300 million budget gap in the Philadelphia School District that, if not addressed, could result in the loss of 340 jobs. The press event occurred a month after the mayor first announced her proposal to tax rideshares in the city at 20 cents per ride as part of her $6.9 billion city budget plan for 2027.
However, on March 23, Parker changed things up and announced she was increasing the tax to a full dollar per ride. She then stated that the tax would bring in $48 million and would be combined with the additional $2.4 million from current real estate tax and would lead to a total of $50.4 million in recurring revenue for the school district. Parker said the funding would save 240 jobs in the district, including 130 teachers, 55 student climate staff, and 55 other school-based positions.
According to NBC Philadelphia, Parker insisted that these jobs could only be saved if her plan is approved. “If these taxes are enacted and approved by our council, this will be the largest new recurring local revenue source for the School District of Philadelphia since we enacted the sales tax and the cigarette tax,” the mayor said during the press conference.
“And that was $120 million in annual revenue from the sales tax and $83 million respectively and I think our children and the School District of Philadelphia are worth it,” she continued. The mayor also stated that the tax would be applied to rideshare companies, like Uber or Lyft, not on individual riders. Uber released a statement about the 20-cent proposal saying it would pass the cost of the tax on to its customers.
“Again, I’m not responsible for how the company decides that it wants to adjust to this $1 tax. It’s not my responsibility to decide what it does,” she went on to say at the time. Parker then made the case that other big cities across the country like New York, Chicago, D.C., and San Francisco already have a rideshare tax in place, before going on to castigate those who oppose the tax for their displeasure with the move.
“The city of San Francisco, the home of Uber and Lyft, they’ve had a rideshare tax since 2020,” Mayor Parker stated. “So wait a minute. This is 2026, the industry, it’s thriving, it’s bustling, and we’re excited about business thriving and bustling in the city of Philadelphia. We are open for business here. But how dare you tell me, as mayor of this city, to tell the people in this city, that we cannot and should not enact what is one of the most limited powers that we have. And that is to decide how we will drive revenue to the School District of Philadelphia.”
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Comments on the now-viral video clip of Parker’s statement reveal quite clearly how people feel about the proposal. “That’s what the King of England told Boston back in the 1700s,” one user replied. Another wrote, “Taxation without representation. That’s how the revolution started.” Someone else noted the hypocrisy of the left’s “No King” anti-Trump protests in light of the mayor’s comment, saying, “So no kings, right? Or something like that?”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video