Bethel Park Chamber guest addresses school property tax reform
Jamie Baxter discusses a proposal for state property tax reform as guest speaker for the Bethel Park Chamber of Commerce.
State Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill County, was prime sponsor of the narrowly defeated school property tax reform legislation.
Since state Senate Bill 76’s defeat by tiebreaker in November, its prime sponsor has vowed to reintroduce what has become known as the Property Tax Independence Act for the new legislative session.
Although Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill County, has yet to do so, opponents of the measure continue to make efforts to inform the public about its ramifications.
Representing the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, for which she is director of legislative policy and advocacy, Jamie Baxter recently addressed the topic with members of the Bethel Park Chamber of Commerce.
“I’m not saying that property taxes are the way our schools should be funded,” she explained. “I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that this particular proposal has negative impacts for school districts. There might be another property tax reform proposal out there that can fund schools equitably.”
Baxter referred to the “property tax independence” component of the would-be legislation as a misnomer.
“It’s only for school property taxes,” she said. “It’s important to know that, under this proposal, property taxes would not be eliminated. You would still have your county and municipal taxes to pay, and you would also be paying property taxes based on your school district’s debt.”
As voted on, with Lt. Gov. Michael Stack breaking a 24-24 tie, SB 76 called for increasing the state sales tax by 1 percent and broadening the base to include more services and products, and also to increase the personal income tax from 3.07 percent to 4.95 percent.
Proceeds are to go into an Education Stabilization Fund, to be disbursed based on the money each school district raises from property taxes in the fiscal year prior to the legislation’s enactment, with a cost-of-living factor also taken into consideration.
Baxter offered a caveat.
“Say the revenues that come in from the sales tax and the personal income tax are not enough to cover what Bethel Park was receiving,” she said. “What will happen? We don’t know. There is no plan for that. They assume that the revenues will come in to cover the operating costs of all the districts across the commonwealth.”
Districts could raise money beyond the state allotment by attempting to levy a tax on personal income or on earned income and net profits for general revenue purposes, but any such measure would be subject to voter referendum.
“So your booster clubs, if they want money for uniforms or for anything else that’s above and beyond what that current level is, then they’re gong to have to be campaigning for that increase,” Baxter predicted. “Resources at the district level are going to have to go toward signs and commercials and everything that goes into running a political campaign.”
During a January appearance on “Topic A,” broadcast on WYLN-TV in Hazleton, Argall discussed the genesis of the legislation.
“This was written by 80 different taxpayer groups,” he said about the organizations that form the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition, “who essentially came to the House, came to the Senate, and said, ‘Please introduce this on our behalf.’
“They understand the property tax system makes no sense,” he continued. “There has to be a better way to fund the public schools than, how big is your house? How many acres do you live on? Did you fix your roof? Maybe that made sense in the 1830s, when they came up with this idea.”