School Property Taxes

By F. Patrick "Pat" O'Keeffe

I fully support The School Property Tax Elimination Act

The School Property Tax Elimination Act has been championed by State Representative Sam Rohrer. By not limiting myself to partisan game playing or the wishes and whims of party leadership, I am able to fully embrace what is an intelligent effective plan, even when it comes from someone in the other party. Career politicians seldom do that.

Mr. Rohrer's bill would restructure the way we fund our schools, it would create an environment of responsible spending controls, and allow for predictable funding. In place of property taxes, funds would come from an expanded sales tax. The rate would remain the same, but be applied to more items and services while still exempting certain essentials such as food and clothing. Billions of dollars will be re-introduced into our state economy as money saved from property taxes are spent in our local shops.

More importantly, although no tax is popular, The School Property Tax Elimination Act will fully fund our schools while it would eliminate the worst of all taxes. No tax should be able to remove families from their homes or farmers from their fields. Check out The Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition to learn more about this important legislation.

There are other tax reforms to be considered. I support the elimination of the tax exemption for large internet retailers to level the playing field for local small businesses. I also support closing the Delaware Loophole to get all Pennsylvania corporations to pay their fair and equitable share of taxes. Still, the single item that I will most forcefully advocate and support is The School Property Tax Elimination Act.