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Is Property Tax Shift Dead?

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At a forum held this week in the Fox Chapel School District a member of the state Senate said “right now the bill is dead” referring to the proposal to eliminate school property taxes by increasing sales and personal income taxes (we have written about the proposal in years past, including here and here).  We also wrote earlier this year about a forum held in the same district on the topic.

But even if the bill is dead (there is a co-sponsorship memo on the proposal that dates to January, but there is no bill number or history at present) don’t expect the discussion on reducing and/or eliminating school property taxes to stop–even the legislators present at the forum admit that (the senator stating the bill is kaput said he expects discussions to continue, noting it is a “very, very big issue”).

The problem is that eliminating a tax without a significant reduction in spending means the revenue has to shift to some other basis.  That’s what we wrote about in a June 2012 Brief on whether Pennsylvanians would be willing to accept a tax shift.

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Allegheny Institute
Allegheny Institute

The Allegheny Institute is a non-profit research and education organization. Our mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government.

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