Home How I Feel About Property Tax
How I feel about property tax PDF Print E-mail
Depending how long you have lived in the Commonwealth you will have certain ideas about property tax, some favorable and some not so favorable. Yes Property Tax is the main tax, which is used to educate our children. It allows school districts to levy taxes on our homes in order to receive the funding needed to run the district. The unfortunate problem with this antiquated form of taxation is that it imposes higher taxes on those that are no longer benefiting from the education of children and may not be able to afford the ever-increasing cost. Property Tax also prevents families from gifting their homesteads to other family members because of the possibility that those receiving the gift will be unable to maintain the costs. Property Tax will also force our children to take up residence in other communities which are more affordable, thus further eroding the family / community structure.

Do you ever take a look at your mortgage payment? Do you notice slight increases? The increases are the result of higher taxation whether it is Municipal or School tax. The mortgage company automatically adjusts your payment schedule each and every time an increase is implemented. Look at the Escrow portion of your mortgage bill and you will see exactly how much your tax burden is. You can always call your mortgage company for a complete explanation of the invoice.

When School Tax is eliminated you will no longer see a withholding or escrowed funds in the amount that you are seeing now, whether it be hundreds or thousands, those monies will be back in your pocket. Does that sound like a good deal?  It does to me and allot of other Pennsylvanians. Here is the dilemma; how do we raise funds in order to pay for the education of our children? There are many answers. The one that is on the table is to completely expand the sales tax across the board on all goods and services sold in the Commonwealth. See Sales Tax Chart.  Everything except for food, clothing, of necessity, health and medical, education, fuel for your home, will be taxed at the current rate of 6-7% depending on where you live.

Opponents say that the expansion of sales tax will hurt the poor. I feel the poor will greatly benefit by not having to dole out hundreds or thousands of dollars each year and the amount of tax they will pay on sales tax will be negligible in comparison. The poor would have to spend allot of money in order to realize an additional expense from expanded sales tax.

There are many opponents to this solution but no one has stepped forward to introduce a bill with greater potential. Three years ago I had introduced my rendition to Rob Wonderling and the State Senate, it fell on deaf ears. Sam Rohrer and Jeff Picolla were the only people to respond to my suggestions and both agreed that something had to be done. To this date Sam Rohrer of Berks County is the lead supporter in changing the system. Its time to support a change in Pennsylvania; get everyone you know to become involved today. The discussions can take place here and we will send a resolution to Harrisburg through the Representatives and Senators that wish to participate in this forum.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 December 2009 08:16