Last spring, shortly after Mayor Cherelle Parker announced details of her plan to reform the city’s onerous Business Income & Receipts (BIRT) tax, Jigar Mehta began haunting the halls of City Hall, sounding the alarm over what he’s described as a looming financial calamity across the city.

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As Mehta understood it, in reforming BIRT and reducing other corporate taxes — a longtime goal for corporations in Philly — the City had incidentally placed a new burden on those who could least afford it: small business owners. Until the Mayor’s tax plan, which passed in June, a longtime BIRT exemption allowed a company’s first $100,000 in earnings to not be taxed; that allowed small companies to keep more of their income, reinvest in their business and potentially

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