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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
04/25/2024 03:54 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20130&cosponId=12156
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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: March 14, 2013 03:28 PM
From: Representative Mark Painter
To: All House members
Subject: Legislative Package to Eliminate the Per Capita Tax
 

In the near future, I plan to introduce a legislative package that will eliminate the Per Capita and similar “head taxes” levied by local and county governments and school districts throughout the Commonwealth. This will eliminate millions of dollars in waste each year in the tax collection process to municipalities, school districts, and taxpayers across Pennsylvania. Currently, school districts and local governments are authorized to assess Per Capita taxes requiring every resident at least eighteen years of age to pay an amount up to a possible total of twenty dollars, unless the taxing authority exempts some people due to income, and those taxpayers complete the proper paperwork. These taxes are expensive to collect as a percentage of revenue collected, and are unnecessarily burdensome to the taxpayer and tax collector, as they are confusing, time consuming to pay and collect, and are generally aggravating to the taxpayer.
Due to the fact that the Per Capita Tax is authorized in four locations of the Commonwealth Statutes, I have drafted five separate bills listed below.
  1. Eliminating the Per Capita Tax from the Public School Code. Under the Public School Code, school districts are permitted to collect up to $5.00 per person.
  2. Eliminating the Per Capita Tax from the County Code. The County Code allows a $5.00 per capita tax, however, currently, no county in the Commonwealth assesses a per capita tax, and it is unlikely that any will do so in the future.
  3. Eliminating the Per Capita Tax from the Local Tax Enabling Act. Under Act 511 of 1965, a municipality and school district may both enact a Per Capita Tax and share it, up to a total of $10.00 per person.
  4. Eliminating the Per Capita Tax from the Third Class City Code. The statutory maximum for the Per Capita Tax under the Third Class City Code is $5.00.
  5. Amending Section 333 (f) of the Taxpayer Relief Act to create an additional exception for school districts that raise property taxes beyond the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s index.
At one time the per capita tax brought in a significant portion of a municipality’s and school district’s revenue. However, that time has now passed. This archaic tax has outlived its usefulness. Today it is nothing more than an expensive nuisance. Together these bills will eliminate the burden of the Per Capita Tax and allow for a more condensed tax code in the Commonwealth.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to help simplify the process of funding our local government entities.


Introduced as HB1374