The House Finance Committee, Senate Finance Committee and the Select Committee on Property Tax Reform will hold a joint public hearing, 10 a.m., this morning, Oct. 1, where the Commonwealth’s Independent Fiscal Office and the Pennsylvania Realtors Association will both present reports analyzing the Property Tax Independence Act (House Bill 1776/Senate Bill 1400).
The bills would end the ability of school districts to tax real estate and replace the funding mechanism with either a income or sales tax which would be collected locally. The bills, however, do include a state Education Tax that would deposit money into the state’s Education Stabilization Fund.
The reports are intended to analyze the fiscal construction of the bill and determine if the proposed revenue streams (primarily the state personal income tax and state sales tax) would be able to replace the dollars currently generated by school district property taxes, said State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129), who is the House bill’s sponsor.
Depending on what the reports conclude, an amendment may be offered to tweak the proposals while adhering to their ultimate goal of replacing school district property taxes.
The hearing can be viewed at Cox’s website.
