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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 6, 2016 04:14 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Art Haywood and Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, Sen. Daylin Leach |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Non-Wage, Non-Interest Income Tax |
| In 2015, Pennsylvania was listed among the “Terrible 10” states for unfair taxation in our nation by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Under Pennsylvania’s current tax system, poor citizens are burdened with three times the tax rate of wealthy Pennsylvanians. Middle-income Pennsylvanians pay double the tax rate of the wealthy. The math is clear: Pennsylvania has placed the heaviest weight of taxation on everyday working people. At a time when Pennsylvania is struggling to manage a two billion dollar deficit, we cannot afford a regressive tax system in which the wealthy do not pay their fair share while low and middle-income people are burdened with high taxes. For this reason, I am introducing legislation that would impose a tax on non-wage, non-interest income classes that are concentrated among the affluent. This legislation would impose a tax rate of 4% on net profits, dividends, net gains derived from rents, royalties, patents and copyrights, gambling and lottery winnings and net gains derived through estates and trust. According to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, this legislation could add up to $615 million in revenue for the year beginning January 1, 2017. This legislation complies with the Pennsylvania Constitution’s uniformity clause. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided that the uniformity clause requires all taxes to be uniform “upon the same class of subjects” so long as a reasonable, non-arbitrary distinction exists relative to the classification in Aldine Apartments, Inc. v Commonwealth, 493 Pa 480, 487 (1981). I hope that you will join me in sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as SB1258