Another day, another bogus tax relief scheme coming from Harrisburg. I was going to comment on the latest delaying tactic a few days ago, but David Baldinger of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations wrote a terrific response that I agree with 100 percent.
Baldinger sent the letter below to Sen. James Rhoades, who unveiled another half-baked scheme to delay the elimination of property taxes until after next year's Legislative elections. This is nothing more than a warmed-over version of Act 1, which Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly rejected in May.
This is a simple issue. You're either with us (the people) or against us when it comes to the elimination of property taxes in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers who stand against the people should be voted out in 2008.
Nothing short of the elimination of school property taxes is acceptable. Here is Baldinger's letter:
Dear Sen. Rhoades,
I read with great interest your proposal for property tax relief and watched your comments during the press conference.
While you are correct that the voters rejected the Act 1 referendum because "it didn't go far enough," there is another, more prominent, reason: the Act 1 referendum did not permanently eliminate the taxes that it shifted. Our supporters and members have told us that Pennsylvania taxpayers do not care if other taxes like the SUT and PIT are raised or broadened as long as the taxes they replace are TOTALLY ELIMINATED.
I respectfully submit that your plan is nothing more than the rejected Act 1 referendum on steroids. Contrary to your statement and the title of your legislation, your idea does not forever eliminate school property taxes. Instead, it imposes new, permanent taxes in exchange for temporary relief while property taxes continue to rise, just like Act 50, Act 72, Act 1, and HB 1600. They're all variations on a theme — add new taxes while keeping the old and allow school boards to continue to raise property taxes with impunity.
Your plan does nothing to address cost controls and does nothing to improve educational opportunities for children in poorer school districts.
You and many other legislators seem to think that this issue is all about headline-grabbing property tax "relief" and do not consider the larger picture — an antiquated, crumbling education finance system. Our property tax system was created for a 19th century agrarian culture, not for a 21st century information society.
Property taxes are no longer capable of funding the needs of a modern education system. The system needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to bring it into sync with our current reality.
There is soon-to-be-introduced House legislation that addresses all of these needs in an equitable manner and that spreads the burden over a much broader base: the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007.
I would urge you and other lawmakers to consider this bill as a real, permanent solution to the school funding problem. If you would care to explore this further, please contact Rep. Sam Rohrer or visit the Web site below for an overview of the legislation.
If you need a reality check, consider the Act 1 allowable tax increases before referendum for the 2008-2009 school year as recently announced by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
The smallest allowable increase is 4.4 percent; the largest is 7.1 percent with the median at about 6.25 percent. The current total cost of education in Pennsylvania is about $19.5 billion. If you add a 6.25 percent increase each year and extend this number, you'll find that the cost of education will double to $40 billion in just over eleven years! That's more than the entire present state budget and will absolutely not be sustainable under the current education finance system.
The time to change this paradigm is now.
Thank you for your consideration.
Very truly yours,
David Baldinger
Administrator, Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition
Spokesperson, Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations
http://www.ptcc.us/
(Cartoon by Randy Bish of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
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