Philadelphia Requiring Bloggers to Pay $300 For Business License

This is not a $300 tax for money earned while blogging; this is a $300 fee for considering a small website a business requiring a business license. It does not seem to matter that the site was never intended as a money making venture; nor has it taken in anywhere near the $300 they are asking for.

Seriously; what kind of coverage do they think this is going to get on the web.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2010/08/19/blogging-business-privilege-tax-philadelphia (via)

"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.
...
She's not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.

Even if, as with Sean Barry, that profit is $11 over two years."