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WHY we need a plan
Zero homes should be lost due to unpaid school property taxes
- But, today 10,000 Pennsylvanian's lose their home each year!
- A Sherriff's (tax) Sale robs dignity and equity from PA's residents
School taxes should be funded fairly and match ability to pay
- But, school taxes today are unfairly based on property value (as if it is a source of income like the 1800s)
- A senior receiving 'Social Security' as their only income should never face a choice between a $2500+ (average) school property tax and losing their home
Schools should receive full funding (now and future) automatically without raising tax rates
- But today, tax rates are raised yearly by school boards to accommodate inflation
- Schools face 'unfunded mandates' from the state
(now click "How?" below) -
HOW a well-formulated plan should work
It should leverage a sales tax because it
- is stable (The 6% sales tax has remain unchanged since the 1970s)
- is based on ability pay
- grows with the state economy
- is Collected locally to ease worries about Harrisburg holding/mis-using funds
It should use an income tax because it
- is relatively stable (rising only 0.77% since 1971)
- is based on ability to pay
- grows with the state economy
- is collected locally to ease worries about Harrisburg holding/mis-using funds
It should be equitably spread across as many people as possible
- Out-of-state visitors lessen the burden of PA residents (via sales tax)
- Retirees should pay less than they do in school property taxes (or they'll lose their homes or leave)
- But, working class should not shoulder all the burden (or they'll leave and take their tax revenue with them)
- Renters should see a reduction of the portion of school property tax they pay in their rent
(Now click "What?" below) -
WHAT this plan does
This plan completely eliminates $16B of School Property Taxes in favor of $16B in revenue from increased/expanded Sales/Income taxes.
+2% local Sales Tax
- Total rate from 6% to 8%
- The tax is collected locally, does not pass through Harrisburg
- Generates $4.26B (of the needed $16B)
+1.85% local income tax
- Total rate from 3.07% to 4.92%
- The tax is collected locally, does not pass through Harrisburg
- Generates $9.17B (of the needed $16B)
+ Some retirement treated as income (why?)
- Taxed at income tax rate, but
- NOT Social Security
- NOT Contributions already taxed (to IRA, 401(k), 403B, etc)
- NOT Pensions 'in lieu of' SS (like State Police, up to SS max)
- NOT Railroad Retirement benefits
- Seniors pay 50% less (collectively $3.4B paid drops to $1.49B)
- Generates $1.49B (of the needed $16B)
+2% for non-WIC/SNAP Food & Clothing
- WIC/SNAP food is always exempt
- Generates $0.95B (of the needed $16B)
Other Benefits:
- Renters will see a 1-time reduction in rent (if it increased over the last 5 years due to school property tax)
- The new sales taxes stay local (and do not pass through Harrisburg first)
- Creates a $500m fund for school districts who run into financial distress, to serve as lender of last resort
- School districts are prevented from re-instating a property tax
- Schools will get dollar-for-dollar funding for 3 years as they transition to the all-local sales/income taxes
- Schools get yearly funding increases without needing to raise the Sales/Income tax rates
- 80% of the tax revenue now comes from working families (80% of the state population) making it fair