Tax Code Changes - Coming to a School District and County Near You!

Given our Governor’s promise of not raising taxes, any bills developed by House and Senate committees in Pennsylvania are going to have to conform to this policy for as long as Corbett is in office.  Because of this ‘mandate,’ some ideas are surfacing in proposed tax-code bills that are gaining support that need to be examined by the public eye sooner than later.

One such bill is the proposed HB 1776, which would grant extended taxing authority to municipalities and school districts to help stop-gap budget shortfalls by the Commonwealth’s cuts in education and county-administered care funding.  These additional taxes could be an additional 1% sales tax, higher Earned Income Tax or hikes in the flat taxes charged.

This proposed bill will create a situation where residents in some school districts will be paying more regressive taxes than our most taxed states in the country.  An example would be someone who patronizes the shopping districts in Whitehall and South Whitehall, yet lives in Northern Lehigh or Northampton School districts.  These mentioned school districts would be forced to consider levying an earned income tax or raise a flat tax over an additional 1% sales tax due to a much smaller retail base.  These residents would then pay more taxes at home, and have to fork out an additional higher sales tax at nearby merchants.  Add to the fact that Pennsylvania charges the 6^th highest gasoline tax and 2^nd highest Diesel tax amounts in the nation, and if these local sales taxes are instituted, we are now looking more like California, or Connecticut.

Above all, I strongly feel that we will never see a reduction in property taxes, either.  Several companies and individuals earn their living on working with property taxes, and would fight to see them removed totally.

We have three very viable and growing potential income streams that can solve a lot of the issues of funding.  When partnered with a solid, smart spending plan, income from gaming, the lottery and Marcellus Shale gas can keep our budgets balanced.  Our legislators need to focus on a per-unit tax for all gas that leaves our state.  Our lottery needs to benefit more than just older Pennsylvanians.  South Carolina’s lottery is for education funding… why can’t Pennsylvania do the same?  And where is the gaming funding going?  We need to get those funds to districts to help alleviate property tax increases.