Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Calls for $4.7 Billion in New Revenues (Philadelphia: sale, school)

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by cwa1984

The easiest way to have increased funding for education is to just make it a separate tax on income like social security. The problem is will people go for that or not is another question. Whether it's done at the state or local level or done by both is up for debate. However that works a lot better then the property tax system. Which goes back to my earlier point of needing to start over from scratch.

Umm. PA has a local tax on income that goes directly to the school district. This is in addition to the other taxes PA has.

Local Withholding Tax FAQs | PA Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED)

Wolf needs to cut expenses, not raise taxes, but that requires more effort.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by PhillyPhan95

But it's very difficult to do that when you are already running a short budget.

But they are spending 15K per student, that's not peanuts. If they were state they would be in or near the top ten spenders.

Spending in PA has increased substantially in the last 2 decades yet all I hear is the cry for more money, where is the results of all this spending we are promised?

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by pman

Pennsylvania lawmakers get warned on Scranton's pension debt

It's a big problem that is starting to rear it's ugly head everywhere in the country but lets understand part of what happened there. Scranton was already operating as a distressed city when many of the contracts came up. Scranton's ability to pay was not a consideration during arbitration which so often goes the way of the Unions. They were basically told pay them what they want, we don't care what your finances are.

PA: Mandatory arbitration law binds financially distressed municipalities | PA Independent

[pman]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

But they are spending 15K per student, that's not peanuts. If they were state they would be in or near the top ten spenders.

Spending in PA has increased substantially in the last 2 decades yet all I hear is the cry for more money, where is the results of all this spending we are promised?

Building and running prisons is one of the big drivers that really took off in the early 70s and continued to explode until very. Very recently. As we talked about they aren't spending 15K per student...it's more like 8k plus another 7k for all the bs plans from the last 20 years. Anyway, I'm aware of act 111 and it's definitely a problem. While I find it unlikely we can not have any tax increase I do think that we also need reform not just cuts. That means repeal of act 111, pension reform, etc. We elected a split government to do just that. And it's long overdue that they gut the horse racing purse

[cwa1984]

Originally Posted by blazerj

Umm. PA has a local tax on income that goes directly to the school district. This is in addition to the other taxes PA has.

Local Withholding Tax FAQs | PA Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED)

Wolf needs to cut expenses, not raise taxes, but that requires more effort.

The salary tax is a joke for the actual amount of money it takes in. I paid like $11 and I made 60k last year. The tax is a joke. If you want to get serious about education how it is funded needs to be looked at as well.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by cwa1984

The salary tax is a joke for the actual amount of money it takes in. I paid like $11 and I made 60k last year. The tax is a joke. If you want to get serious about education how it is funded needs to be looked at as well.

What? Where do you live? I paid 1.2% of my Net Income (not Gross) in taxes. If you made $60K, you should have paid about $700. Maybe your district has a lower % of Net Income or my accountant sucks.

EDIT: Here is a summary regarding the tax. You must pay on your gross wage (assuming you are a W-2 employee):

Earned Income Tax – levied by the municipality and school district where you reside. It is a tax on gross wages and net profits. Tax rates are 1% or higher depending on the school district where you live, and the tax is shared between the municipality and school district. If you work within Pennsylvania your employer is required to withhold the tax and remit it to the collector where the employer is located. The York Adams Tax Bureau collects the tax for most of York and all of Adams Counties. If you are self-employed or work out-of-state, you are required to make estimated quarterly payments of the tax due. An annual Individual Earned Income Tax Return must be filed with the YATB by April 15 following the end of the tax year. A return must be filed even if you had no earned income. Only permanently retired or disabled individuals are exempt from filing.

http://www.yatb.com/information-for-residents/

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by blazerj

What? Where do you live? I paid 1.2% of my Net Income (not Gross) in taxes. If you made $60K, you should have paid about $700. Maybe your district has a lower % of Net Income or my accountant sucks.

EDIT: Here is a summary regarding the tax. You must pay on your gross wage (assuming you are a W-2 employee):


Information for York or Adams County Residents - York Adams Tax Bureau

This is a difficult tax too avoid. For much of PA, the tax is 1.25-1.3%, but it is higher in some places such as the cities of Pittsburgh and Philly.

This site will tell you what your rates are based on your home and work addresses:

Municipal Statistics Tax Reports

[cwa1984]

Originally Posted by blazerj

What? Where do you live? I paid 1.2% of my Net Income (not Gross) in taxes. If you made $60K, you should have paid about $700. Maybe your district has a lower % of Net Income or my accountant sucks.

EDIT: Here is a summary regarding the tax. You must pay on your gross wage (assuming you are a W-2 employee):


Information for York or Adams County Residents - York Adams Tax Bureau

I pay the local tax but the link you posted mentioned the salary tax which is what I thought you were getting it which is a measly $11 a year.

[North Beach Person]

Hey, as someone mentioned on another thread when I told y'all he is PA's Martin O'Malley, "He got rid of the death penalty which is a good thing."

If you think this year is fun with the new taxes just wait until next year. The increases will not be "enough".

And, why I follow this is because I still own property in PA.

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by Wells5

I just got an email from the Commonwealth Foundation with a detailed analysis of Dr. Wolf's new tax plan. It is truly astounding and alarming. Among the heretofore untaxed items that will be taxed at the new 6.6% sales tax rate are funeral services, sports admissions, airline tickets, textbooks, fees for financial services, bullion gold, caskets, accounting services, etc. etc. Cigarette tax would increase by $1 per pack. The increased tax per person in the commonwealth would amount to $354 per year or $1419 per family unit. Pensions for public school teachers, administrators and most other school employees will take a $1.75 billion chunk out of the budget, conveniently shifted from the general fund to a new fund to hide the largesse. (Thanks Gov. Ridge).

Republicans control both houses of the state legislature. We can only hope that they will throw out this monstrosity and bring in a sensible budget with no increased taxes. But seeing how they colluded with the dems. to pass the transportation bill, one can only hope. See link below.

http://www.commonwealthfoundation.or...BudgetMemo.pdf

The commonwealth foundation is a Tea Party organization.

I hope that our legislators can work together to come up with a budget that funds services and does not hurt the 99%.