The state wants to collect your taxes.......
Not just your state taxes, which makes perfect sense, but also some of your local taxes, such as the earned income tax now collected by your elected tax man, or the school district, or some firm.
The state wants to do that now and thinks it can do it better than the local guys. The local guys disagree.
A report issued by the Governor's Center for Local Government Services estimates that, statewide, it costs $51 million in overhead to collect the local income taxes, which themselves total $1.7 billion. It says the state Revenue Department could do the same job for about $17 million, not including $18 million in startup and transition costs.
The state's new gambling law allows school districts to take part in the slot machine windfall, as long as they reduce property taxes and increase their earned income tax rates. If a district doesn't have an earned income tax, it must enact one of at least 0.1 percent.
Local earned income taxes aren't unique to Pennsylvania, but they are nearly so. Only 11 other states allow local agents -- that is, school districts and municipalities -- to levy income taxes. In Pennsylvania, there are 2,878 local income taxes, more than in the rest of the states combined. And the taxes themselves come in varied shapes and sizes -- the lowest rate is 0.28 percent, while the highest, Scranton's, is 2.4 percent.
Whether in favor of, or against, a full consolidation, all agree that the system could be more efficient and less confusing and needs reforms.
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1 comment:
You have to admit that local and state taxes are a lot better and easer to understand the federal taxes.
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