800 show up at forum on property tax elimination
State lawmakers promise to push new bills in Harrisburg
If the turnout at a town hall meeting on a rainy Tuesday night is any indication, there’s a lot of support for eliminating property taxes in Pennsylvania.
A crowd, at least 800 strong, packed the Inn at Reading banquet hall in Wyomissing on Oct. 22 for a two-hour session that denounced property taxes as immoral vehicles that push seniors on fixed incomes out of their homes.
During an hour-long slide presentation, moderator Shane Klopp characterized school taxes as taxation without representation, sounding a theme as old as the American Revolution.
Klopp, an associate of Stout Associates Realtors in Temple, warned the gathering his approach would be direct, even harsh at times.
Property owners, he contended, don’t ever really own their homes. They’re merely tenants of the school district.
One of the slides read “Welcome to Pennsylvania, where school districts are property owners.” Klopp, in an indiscrete side comment, went as far as to compare school districts to an organized crime group.
Stout Associates hosted the session, which brought together about 10 local legislators who support property tax reform.
Broker Jeffrey Stout said “outrageous school taxes” are the most common complaint among real estate buyers and sellers.
“People are losing their homes,” he said. “It’s unsustainable.”
Senate Bill 76, known as the Property Tax Independence Act, would eliminate property taxes entirely.
State Sen. David Argall, a Schuylkill County Republican who represents part of Berks, is the bill’s prime sponsor. He said the legislation would offset the property-tax revenues by increasing the state sales tax from 6% to 7% and raising the state personal income tax from 3.07% to 4.95%.
Studies indicate that property taxes currently raise about $14 billion to $15 billion annually.
The bill, Argall said, is four or five votes short of approval in the Senate.
State Rep. Jim Cox, a Spring Township Republican, sponsors similar legislation in the House of Representatives.
Similar legislation was defeated on a 25-24 vote in the senate in 2015, with Lt. Gov. Mike Stack breaking a tie vote.
The House bill
State Rep. Frank Ryan, a Lebanon County Republican, introduced a bill in September that would eliminate property taxes.
House Bill 13, a 295-page omnibus act, would replace the $15 or so billion from property taxes dollar-fordollar.
Residents would pay a new 1.85% local personal income tax to school districts and a 2% local sales tax that would go to school districts. There would be a 4.92% retirement income tax — excluding Social Security — of which 1.85% would go to districts and the balance to the state.
Legislators at Tuesday’s session felt Ryan’s bill would be untenable because it taxes retirement income.
Sensing the emotion surrounding the property tax issue, organizers hired security guards and invited a Wyomissing police officer as a precaution. The meeting, however, was orderly.
The elimination of property taxes, Klopp contended, would reduce a $1,015 a month mortgage to $765, a savings of $250 a month. The effect would be to increase a potential homeowner’s buying power from $150,000 to $202,000.
Presenter lays blame
Klopp laid the blame for resistance to property-tax elimination on special interests, lawyers and unions.
He specifically cited the “teachers union,” an apparent reference to the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
In one segment of Klopp’s presentation, an altered video showed Gov. Tom Wolf repeating over and over, “The school districts don’t like it,” referring to the elimination of property taxes.
Suggesting that legislators who voted against property tax elimination did so in exchange for contributions from lobbyists and special interests, Klopp stressed the need for campaign financing reform.
Klopp’s assertion that the source of all campaign contributions over $35 be reported met with applause. He also supported a ban on campaigning during legislative sessions and limiting contributions of political action committees to $500.
While the mood of the crowd was overwhelmingly supportive, a few people walked out of the meeting.
A retired Maidencreek Township woman said she would benefit from the elimination of property taxes, but worried about the impact on public school education.
“I’m more concerned about the future of our children,” she said. “We have no future if they have no future.”
Supporters of property-tax elimination insist school districts would not suffer.
The imbalance
“Who Pays for School Property Tax Elimination,” a 2017 study by the Keystone Research Center, found the poorest school districts would suffer most under property tax elimination.
The largest amounts of property tax relief would go to affluent families in rich school districts that have the highest property taxes, concluded economist Mark Price, the Harrisburg-based center’s research director.
He cited as an example that under property tax relief, Lower Merion School District in Montgomery County would receive $23,219 per student while Reading would get $1,034 per student.
The study was performed before the latest tax reform bills were introduced.
Legislators expressing support for property tax elimination included state Reps. Tom Caltagirone, Mark Gillen, David Maloney, Mark Rozzi and Barry Jozwiak and state Sen. Judy Schwank, all of Berks County.
Tammy Keener of Sinking Spring, who’s been advocating for property tax elimination for 10 years, worked the crowd to gain support for SB 76. Call your legislator, she urged, and demand action.
Schwank, a Ruscombmanor Township Democrat, told the group the course of action is clear.
“You’re the key to make something happen in Harrisburg,” she said. “It’s time we get this done.”
“You’re the key to make something happen in Harrisburg. It’s time we get this done.” — Schwank, a Ruscombmanor Township Democrat