Philadelphia council rejects Uber, Lyft, Airbnb taxes, passes Mayor Parker's preliminary budget

Philadelphia's proposed taxes on ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, hotels and short-term rentals like Airbnb, were killed from Mayor Cherelle Parker's proposed budget Thursday.  

Philadelphia City Council's Committee of the Whole on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a version of Parker's budget without the proposed rideshare, delivery and short-term rental taxes.

"We thank City Council for rejecting the Mayor's proposed $1 rideshare tax and standing up for affordability for the hundreds of thousands of Philadelphia riders and drivers who spoke out against it," Uber said in a statement. "More than 90,000 letters were submitted in opposition to the tax, sending a clear message that Philadelphians want affordable transportation options and oppose higher costs on working families."

Wednesday night, sources in City Council told CBS News Philadelphia that none of the new taxes in the budget — the ride-hailing tax, a tax on short-term or the delivery tax to fund a pothole squad — had the nine votes needed to pass.

Councilmembers also said proposed increases to the city's hotel tax and increases to existing taxes on short-term rentals like Airbnb were not going to happen, as they would require state approval.

Negotiations on the budget for fiscal year 2027 resumed Thursday morning at City Hall.

Parker's initially proposed budget in March set the rideshare tax to 20 cents per ride. Later in March, Parker instead proposed the $1-per-ride rate after receiving new data about the School District of Philadelphia's $300 million deficit.

Councilmembers said they were exploring options to fund education without asking Philadelphians to pay more.

Now that it has cleared the committee, the budget still needs preliminary approval from a full session of council. Once that's done, a final budget must pass by June 11.

This is a developing story and will be updated.