BCT Editorial – 7/29/07

This page was last updated on August 28, 2007.

Mean spirited; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 29, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“U.S. Reps. John Peterson and Phil English had better be careful for what they wish for they just might get it.

“Last week, the two Pennsylvania Republicans, who represent largely rural congressional districts, attached an amendment to the annual federal transportation bill that would prohibit using federal money to place tolls on Interstate 80.

“The bill isn’t law yet. Although it passed the House, the final legislation must still be worked out in a House-Senate conference committee,

“If it becomes law, the amendment blows up the plan adopted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell to use tolls on I-80 and increased tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to fund road and bridge projects and mass transit systems.

“Given the reluctance of politicians to increase taxes to pay for these much-needed projects - and taxpayers to pay them - Rendell and state lawmakers were reduced to relying on gimmicks.”

[RWC] Road/bridge tolls aren’t a “gimmick” when used solely for the roads/bridges on which they’re collected.

“But what was really galling about Peterson’s and English’s amendment was their justification for it. The Associated Press reported they said the tolls would be a bailout for big-city mass transit systems, with rural areas bearing the financial burden.

“The ingrates. The urban areas they are complaining about have been sending massive amounts of their tax dollars to Harrisburg to subsidize poor and rural school districts in the state. That’s because the state’s subsidy formula for public education factors in a school district’s percentage of low-income students. Poor, rural school districts receive more in state subsidies than they generate locally. (See the following editorial.)

[RWC] Ah, name-calling. Is this what is taught in Journalism 101 or the Times offices?

“Where does this money come from? From Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, the very places Peterson and English are whining about. From Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Westmoreland and York counties, most of which have mass transit systems.

“In 2004, the latest year for which figures are available from the Department of Revenue, the first six counties accounted for about 48 percent of the state’s total taxable income. The other eight accounted for 23 percent.

“Of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, these counties - one-fifth of the total -had 71 percent of the state’s taxable income.

“The personal income tax produces 37 percent of the state’s revenue. The sales tax generates 34 percent of revenue for the state, and these counties accounted for a little more than one-third of it in 2004 (37 percent).

“The trend holds for inheritance and estate tax collections and realty transfer tax collections and the two main business taxes (corporate net income and capital stock and franchise taxes)

“In effect, these 14 counties are subsidizing the other 53. For the sake of public education in their districts, English and Peterson had better hope that lawmakers from the top revenue-producing counties aren’t as shortsighted and mean spirited as they are.”

[RWC] Here’s a radical – and probably “mean spirited” – idea. Whether we live in urban, suburban, or rural areas, why don’t we all just pay our own way for education, law enforcement, transportation, et cetera? Nothing good comes from trying to pick another taxpayer’s pocket.

Regarding tolls on bridges and limited access highways, I believe they’re a good idea as long as the tolls collected are used solely for the bridge/highway on which they were collected. For example, I would have no trouble with toll collection on the Beaver Valley Expressway (PA route 60) as long as the toll revenue was used exclusively for BVE maintenance. Remember when we paid a toll to cross the Monaca-East Rochester Bridge?