Allegheny County’s New Taxes: The Rest of the Story

A great deal has been written and said about the December enactment of two new taxes in Allegheny County. The case against levying the new drink and car rental taxes was exceptionally strong; the case for levying new taxes was pitifully weak. Indeed, passing the new tax ordinance represents a triumph of politics over good policy. Bear in mind that the original purported reason for the new taxes was to raise the County match required to receive the state’s $185 million funding for the Port Authority. But in truth, the County would have only needed about $2 million more to go along with $25 million or so it has been allocating for several years. Continue