Local Tax Reform
Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law a bill that will streamline Pennsylvania’s local tax collection system. The new law (S.B. 1063) reduces municipal and school district Earned Income Tax collectors from 560 to 69. Essentially, one collector will be named for each county. The program will begin in 2010 and will be fully operational by 2012.
According to the Pennsylvania Economy League, Pennsylvania’s fractured and inefficient system left some $237 million uncollected each year, which would be enough to hire 3,000 more teachers and 3,000 more police officers, or lower property taxes. This bill, in essence, hopes to improve this. Sen. Jane Earll of Erie, the bill’s sponsor, said “The way we collect taxes now is antiquated, inefficient and results in a lack of withholding, lost revenue and revenue that ultimately does not get distributed to the municipalities where it belongs.”
If you’d like to read the bill, visit http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=1063.
