McKinney's bottom line is to vote no on Act 1. He presents a very clear and understandable presentation of the base information. He closes with this statement: "Act 1 is a tax shift, not a tax reform. Vote ''no'' on Act 1."
Reform is to change or modify. Tax reform is to change or modify the way/means of how taxes are collected. Tax reform does not need to include a tax reduction for all taxpayers.
McKinney outlines Act 1 in this way:
If approved by voters Tuesday, it will shift some real estate taxes from real estate to an earned income tax. While some taxpayers may save a few dollars on real estate taxes, many others will see their EIT increase, and overall taxes will increase, not decrease.Is Act 1 a reduction for all? No. Is Act 1 an ideal tax reform plan? No.
Senior citizens without earned income and low-income families who own homes stand to gain. If you rent, regardless of your income level, you will see your taxes increase. Someone has to pay, since Act 1 is revenue-neutral to the school district.
The question to ask - Is Act 1 better than what we currently have in place?
For me, as noted previously, the answer is yes because I believe basing our school tax on property is unfair to seniors and those on low and fixed incomes. Property doesn't correlate with an ability to pay in the same way that income does.
Brad Moulton noted on the earlier post on this topic (read it here) that this Act will pit seniors and low income homeowners against renters and higher income residents.
It will only do so if people chose to vote based on what it means to their pocket as opposed to what is the right/fair thing to do without regard to one's own impact.
While the renters do lose out and presumably are renting because they can't afford to own a home, when forced to chose between keeping the status quo and implementing change that will relieve property owners earning under $50,000, I'm going to help the latter and vote in favor of it even if I now have to pay more as a result.
3 comments:
Is there any prediction as to the reduction to the home owner on a fixed income and the increase to the EIT? How does that get calculated?
Bravo Ross! I would like to see more people, and our elected representatives, vote for the good of the entire community, not their own wallets.
What would be good for the entire community is to vote Act 1 down and tell the legislature to come up with meaningful reform. We, the citizens of this Commonwealth, are in charge. What we need to do is let our representatives know that otherwise they will continue to wipe the soles of their boots on our backs as they walk off to Harrisburg.
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