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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 20, 2021 10:37 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative P. Michael Sturla |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Optional Sales Tax for Property Tax Relief and Municipal Assistance |
| Many municipalities throughout Pennsylvania are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. With so many families feeling the pinch of ever-increasing property taxes and diminishing municipal services, it is imperative that we give local governments the tools to reduce taxes while improving public services in their communities. I will be introducing legislation that would provide substantial property tax relief and give our municipalities an additional revenue tool to improve core services that are beneficial to our communities. As the sales tax is the preferred method of property tax reduction and is widely supported by the public, this proposal would provide counties the option of levying a 1% sales tax (similar to Allegheny and Philadelphia’s current Regional Assets District tax) and distribute the revenue as follows: Revenues would be directed to municipalities to be used towards pension obligations and core services which include, but are not limited to police, fire, public works, and administrative services. Funds would be allocated based on an offset of a municipality’s taxes that would otherwise be received from tax-exempt properties if those properties paid municipal taxes. Because tax-exempt properties are located in every municipality and are, by definition, community assets, this allows for a fair distribution to local communities that may have a disproportional amount of tax-exempt properties that serve an entire region. But every municipality would benefit proportionally by the revenue generated. Please join me in co-sponsoring this common-sense legislation that gives back to our communities. |
Introduced as HB1322