Property tax bill panned by lawmakers
Posted: Saturday, April 28, 2012 5:00 am | Updated: 6:35 am, Sat Apr 28, 2012.
Two state lawmakers from Bucks County — a Democrat and a Republican — came out against a plan to abolish school property taxes because they contend local schools will be shortchanged.
Reps. Marguerite Quinn, R-143, and Steve Santarsiero, D-31, spoke out against House Bill 1776 Friday at a Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
"It doesn't get rid of property taxes," Santarsiero said. "(The tax) remains for municipal services, it remains for county services and it remains for school districts with funding through debt service. Plus, there are a whole host of taxes it will hoist on people. It's not the right way to go."
Quinn said the measure would not be a tax cut but a tax shift, and the shift would hurt area districts.
"When we send a dollar to Harrisburg, we get back change," she said. "Your property taxes stay local. When we raise a dollar locally, we get that back dollar for dollar."
The so-called "Property Tax Independence Act" would seem to help senior citizens and people on fixed incomes, who have complained to school boards that their Social Security or retirement money doesn't keep pace with rising real estate taxes.
The legislation, sponsored by Berks County Republican Jim Cox, would provide the same level of funding for schools across the state as they currently receive. But the money wouldn't come from property taxes. Instead, the state's personal income tax would rise from 3.07 percent to 4 percent. Additional funds would also be generated by closing loopholes in the state sales tax and raising the rate from 6 percent to 7 percent.
Two area lawmakers are among 59 co-sponsors of the bill: Reps. Tina Davis of Bristol and John Galloway of Falls, both Democrats.
"I love the idea," Galloway said earlier this month when asked about the plan. "First and foremost, the property tax is killing people in my district. People whose kids graduated from school 35 years ago are still paying this tax. It is something that scares the living hell out of them."
Quinn told business leaders Friday their goods and services would be taxed at a higher rate, and chances are if they're not taxed now they would be.
"If it sounds too good to be true, it just might be," she said.
Santarsiero said area districts "are not getting our fair share of (school) funding" from the state and HB 1776 wouldn't improve matters.
Other lawmakers speaking at the Waterwheel restaurant breakfast included state Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-10, and Reps. Paul Clymer, R-145, Scott Petri, R-178, Bernie O'Neill, R-29, and Kathy Watson, R-144.
Santarsiero was the lone lawmaker at the meeting to vote against Act 13, the state law that taxes drilling for Marcellus Shale and with it, opponents claim, takes away the zoning rights of municipalities.
He said he wants to change the "bill and make it better for Pennsylvania."
While praising McIlhinney's amendment to "carve out" Bucks and Montgomery County municipalities from some of the law's requirements, Santarsiero said the law needs to "do a better job protecting the environment" and give "municipalities more power to control what happens in their municipalities."
He also wants a higher tax rate on the extraction of gas "to ask the oil and gas industry to pay their fair share, and I don't think this does that."
McIlhinney spoke about the state budget, saying he expects the Senate to pass one in May that's within the inflation rate of the current $27.14 billion spending plan. He said state revenues have increased, and he'll push to restore Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed cuts to higher education and health and human services.
"We're hearing a lot of concern about the cuts," he said. "We're cognizant of it."
Watson responded that the House will take the Senate version and "fix it, massage it, listen to (constituents) and we'll send it back to them after we do all the work."
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