BCT Editorial – 12/20/05

This page was last updated on December 20, 2005.

Stumbling along; Editorial; Beaver County Times; December 20, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Legislature shows it is incapable of tax modernization

“Pennsylvania will never achieve tax modernization with the current gang running things in Harrisburg.”

[RWC] “Tax modernization” is Timesspeak for shifting from local property taxes to state income and/or sales taxes. You’ll learn this below.

“As the silliness of the last few weeks of the special session on property tax reform has shown, this bunch is incapable of governing. Years of feathering their own nests with high salaries, magnificent perks and cushy amenities have neutered them. They’re incapable of doing what they were put into office to do - govern the state responsibly.

“The House is still squabbling over any kind of property tax reform. It returns this week for another exercise in futility.

“Meanwhile, the Senate passed a bill that is more window dressing than substance. Its bill isn’t tax modernization; it’s political expediency.

“A key element in the Senate bill requires district-by-district referendums to cut property taxes by increasing local income taxes. The problem with that is it doesn’t provide property tax relief for those who need it the most - low-income families in poor communities, especially if they are renters.

“Check out a poor rural school district like Brownsville Area in Fayette County. Seventy-five percent of the families in that district have a household income of less than $50,000 a year. There is simply no way an increase in the local income tax would in any way raise a meaningful amount of revenue that could be used to reduce property taxes.”

[RWC] Here’s your first indication that the Times merely wants taxes shifted from one taxpayer group to another. With extremely rare exceptions, each school district should be able to fund itself completely with local taxes. Dumping a local responsibility on state and/or federal taxpayers is just a way to get into someone else’s pockets.

“Gov. Ed Rendell is sitting back and watching Republicans, who control the House and Senate with wide majorities, burn with anger. They’re ticked, claiming the governor isn’t providing the leadership necessary on this matter.

“But Rendell does have a position. He’s still spinning his “$1 billion in gambling revenue from slots” illusion as a way of reducing property taxes. (It’s his story and he’s sticking to it.)

“Anyway, what’s the point of trying to work with someone who won’t listen? Getting the power brokers in the state House and Senate to work together is like trying to herd cats. All you really get when you try to work with them is a lot of claw marks.

“Pennsylvania needs tax modernization that will serve its needs in the 21st century. Included in that must be a shift away from (but not the elimination of) property taxes as a local source of revenue for school districts to a statewide levy on sales and/or income, and a revamping of the commonwealth’s arcane and excessive business taxes.”

[RWC] Here’s where the editorial finally confesses “tax modernization” is really shifting from local taxes to statewide taxes. In keeping with its liberal leaning, I suspect the editorial author would probably rather advocate shifting from local taxes to federal taxes. As we all know, shifting from local to state and/or federal taxes is a guarantee of public school spending getting even further out of control.

“It should be obvious by now that the gang that is stumbling and bumbling around in Harrisburg isn’t up to the task. For the new year, Rendell and the Legislature must resolve to appoint an independent panel made up of experts to come up with recommendations to modernize the state’s tax system.”

[RWC] If our elected officials can’t do their jobs, we need to replace them. Appointing a bunch of unelected boobs is running away from responsibility.