HARRISBURG - A new report issued by a special House committee sidesteps taking a position on high-profile bills introduced last session to replace school property taxes with revenue from an expanded state sales tax and higher state income tax rate.
The report by the House Select Committee on Property Tax Reform instead offers recommendations to address long-standing issues involving education spending, property taxes levied by school districts, municipalities and counties and calls for creation of a successor panel in the new legislative session starting in January.
The committee was formed last June with a wide-ranging mandate after a push to approve the property tax replacement bill stalled in the House. The panel wrapped up its work when the 2011-12 legislative session ended last month.
This legislation proposed to increase the sales tax rate from 6 percent to 7 percent and subject more goods and services to the sales tax. It proposed increasing the state personal income tax rate from 3.07 percent to 4 percent.
However, an analysis by the state Independent Fiscal Office found that combined revenue from the replacement state sales and income taxes under the bill would fall $1.5 billion short in meeting school district aid distribution requirements in the first fiscal year.
"I believe this select committee played a part in bringing this IFO report to the forefront of the discussion and providing a blueprint for future efforts," said former Rep. Tom Quigley, R-146, Pottstown, the committee chairman who lost re-election in November.
The committee's report is not an effort to "reinvent the wheel or find the proverbial silver bullet" to address burdensome property taxes, but rather to stress legislative proposals that have broad support and can be acted upon relatively quickly, added Mr. Quigley.
Some of the committee's recommendations:
-âPush again for a House-passed bill to allow local governments to completely exclude homesteads from property taxes. This requires an amendment to the state Constitution. Currently, local governments can exclude 50 percent of the median homestead's assessed value. But the report mentions the need to address replacement revenue if an amendment was approved.
-âA generalized call to give local governments more local taxing options that are revenue neutral.
-âRevamp delinquent tax collection efforts.
-âAmend the state Right to Know Law to allow local governments to recoup actual costs of meeting information requests, especially from commercial firms.
-âTie special education aid to the actual costs of providing services.
It's also important to change state school aid formulas to help fast-growing schools in the Poconos and elsewhere, said Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176, Mount Pocono.
No decision has been made on whether to recreate the committee, said Stephen Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-28, Pittsburgh.
Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.comCommittee recommendations
-âPush again for a House-passed bill to allow local governments to completely exclude homesteads from property taxes. This requires an amendment to the state constitution. Currently, local governments can exclude 50 percent of the median homestead's assessed value. But the report mentions the need to address replacement revenue if an amendment was approved.
-âA generalized call to give local governments more local taxing options that are revenue neutral.
-âRevamp delinquent tax collection efforts.
-âAmend the state Right to Know Law to allow local governments to recoup actual costs of meeting information requests, especially from commercial firms.
-âTie special education aid to actual costs of providing services.