Tag Archives: tax reform

School Property Tax Reform Must Start with Cost Containment

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On June 11th, H.B. 1776, a proposal to end school property taxes, came up for a vote in the House Finance Committee.  The Committee believed the proposal contained too many unanswered questions and were not convinced it would raise the necessary revenue to replace all school property taxes.  They tabled the bill by a 13 to 11 count (one abstention).  Whether or not the bill will be brought back in the future remains to be seen.  But it does raise an interesting question:  Where and how should school property tax reform begin?   The focus should be on the driver of high taxes, to wit: rapidly rising spending.

 

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Legislature Moves to Squash Tuition Tax

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With thirty co-sponsors, a bill introduced by Rep. Paul Costa would ban the imposition of the proposed education privilege tax in Pittsburgh and preclude any other municipality in Pennsylvania from enacting such a levy.  The so called “fair share tax” is highly controversial and has enraged students and prompted university officials to mount a serious opposition campaign. And rightly so: as we have pointed out over recent weeks, this tax is one of the worst ideas ever to arise out of Pittsburgh government.

 

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