"As Is"
What if we don't make any changes?
- Cost: $16B /year
- Income Tax: 3.07%
- Sales Tax: 6%
- Food & Clothing: 0%
- $16B+ taxes on properties
- School Property Taxes rise 3.2% every year, faster than inflation
- 10,000 homes /yr lost due to inability to pay school property taxes
- Schools face 'unfunded mandates' by the state, passed on to property owners
- Fairness: Awful! (Concentrates taxation on property owners to fund schools)
Our Plan - House Bill 13
Eliminate the School Property Tax fairly!
- Cost: $16B /year
- Income Tax: 4.92% (1.85% of it is local)
- Sales Tax: 8% (2% of it is local)
- Food & Clothing: 2% (all is local)
- Retirement Income at 4.92%
NOT Social Security
NOT Contributions already taxed
NOT Pensions 'in lieu of' SS
NOT Railroad retirement - $0 school taxes on properties
- Schools receive yearly funding increases intrinsically without needing to raise Sales/Income tax further
- 0 homes lost due to inability to pay school property taxes
- Taxes to fund schools based on 'ability to pay'
- Includes rental reduction (if landlord passed on property tax increases to you in the last 5 years)
- Additional Sales/Income tax are local (not passing through Harrisburg)
- Fairness: Best. (Balanced funding from visitors, PA's working families and a smaller amount from retirees)
Old Plan (SB76)
Not viable / No sponsor since 2019
- Cost: $16B /year
- Income Tax: 4.95%
- Sales Tax: 7%
- Food & Clothing: 7%
- $0 school taxes on properties
- 0 homes lost due to inability to pay school property taxes
- Schools receive yearly funding increases intrinsically without needing to raise Sales/Income tax further
- Taxes to fund schools based on 'ability to pay'
- No rental reduction guarantee
- Additional Sales/Income tax pass through Harrisburg
- Additional local tax collected for special projects (buildings)
- Fairness: Poor. Burden moved to PA working families, causing them to leave (which destabilizes the state revenue) and retirees to move in (adding senior care costs)