Pennsylvania legislation requires districts to form tax study commissions
As part of Pennsylvania’s new taxpayer relief legislation, school districts are required to form tax study commissions made up of five, seven, or nine residents. These commissions will study school funding and recommend ballot measures on school taxes for the May 2007 primary. School boards must approve the questions before they are placed on the ballot. Shifts in taxes could come either by raising the earned income tax or by taxing district residents on their total incomes, including interest, dividends and the like. Only one school board member may sit on a commission and the commission members should reflect the demographics of the community. School administrators are not allowed to lead the studies, but may answer questions. Lancaster School District Business Manager Curt Baker believes most school boards will approve the recommendations of their commissions without change. Those having obtained homestead or farmstead exemptions and retirees stand to see the greatest tax relief if voters approve raising the earned income tax. Meanwhile, those without exemptions and renters, who work, will see an increase in their earned income tax. However, Columbia School District Business Manager Laura Cowburn
cautions that a higher earned income tax could zero out cuts to property taxes. Clarence Kegel Jr. of Kegel Kelin Almy & Grimm, a law firm that represents several Pennsylvania school districts, contends the new law will fail to deliver any real tax relief. "My personal belief is that it’s not meaningful tax relief, and I share the school boards’ opinion that the real problem with taxes is expenses imposed from Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., that force them to raise taxes," he says. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) agrees that the law fails to provide meaningful tax relief. "I don’t know a school board member across the state who would say they enjoy raising taxes," says PSBA spokesman Scott Shewell. They do it because they have to in order to fund local education, he says.
Lancaster New Era
By Robyn Meadows
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[Editor’s Note: The new law ties tax relief to expected revenue from slot machine gambling revenue and limits the ability of local school boards to raise property taxes beyond the rate of inflation. For background, see below. PSBA is urging citizens to get involved with their local school boards by volunteering to serve on the commissions; for information the Act, see PSBA’s information page.]
[NSBA School Law pages on new Pennsylvania law]
[PSBA on Pennsylvania Act 1 of Special Session 2006]