Pennsylvania School Taxes (Hershey: low income, renters, how much)

[Jungle George]

Hi Folks!!

I heard that residents of Pa only pay school tax if they have a child in school. Any truth to this??

[William shivers]

no everyone pays school taxes if you own property

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Jungle George

Hi Folks!!

I heard that residents of Pa only pay school tax if they have a child in school. Any truth to this??

That's not true.

Anyone who owns property pays school tax.

Renters actually pay taxes through their rent payments because their landlords pay the school taxes with that money.

[I LOVE PA!]

The reality is, what the landlord decides to do with your rent money is his own business. Renters do not actually pay school taxes.

[micrguy]

Depends on where you live. I used to live in Hershey and was a renter. The Hershey school district assessed anyone over the age of 18 for school tax. The exception was if you were a full time student. At least ten years ago the school tax per person was around $250 in Hershey and the bill was sent directly to my townhouse. So my landlord did not collect it or get involved with the school tax. The other towns around Hershey were a bit cheaper, Hershey was well known for having very high taxes.

[Dawne]

As you can see, there are two types of school taxes. One is based on the value of your property and the other is based on your employment. However, it seems to me that the employment one has been virtually eliminated and we now just pay $10 per person when we get our property school tax bill. So maybe renters don't pay this one at all.

There is a 1% tax deducted from your paycheck in PA that eventually makes its way to your school district.

There is also an "occupational privilege" tax deducted from your paycheck once a year that I believe gets split between the school district, county and municipality where you work. That can be from $10 to $52, depending on what the municipality has decided to collect.

[turboredcart]

LMAO! LMAOOOOOOOOOO!

1. you can not escape propertty tax. when you rent- it is figured into the cost of rent.

2. Seniors and disabled can get up to $650 rebate on rent/tax- up from $500- since we now have casinos.

3. eveyone pays per capita tax.

4. occupation tax- you pay this EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO KIDS IN SCHOOL. it is based on a formula per your occupation.

5. prividge to work tax. Had been $10 a year- i think it went up to pay for ambulance-fire stuff.

6. if you expect low tax in PA stick to small towns. services are not what suburban are- so be prepared. on the flip side- only FL has more per capita retired.

7. PA ranks in the top 3 states for programs that take care of thier people.

[I LOVE PA!]

Ok, I'm trying to make the point that rent is RENT. It is not paying taxes. If I owned a huge house on L.I. and the only way I could afford to pay my taxes was to sell drugs, does that mean the people who buy the drugs I'm selling pay property tax???

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

Ok, I'm trying to make the point that rent is RENT. It is not paying taxes. If I owned a huge house on L.I. and the only way I could afford to pay my taxes was to sell drugs, does that mean the people who buy the drugs I'm selling pay property tax???

You're failing to recognize that the actual property is part of the business of renting property. Any property owner would be foolish to not figure the property taxes into how much rent to charge. The property tax is part of the overhead/operating expenses of the rental business.

Think of it this way, a drug dealer figures the cost of his supplies into the price of his drugs. The buyer pays for plastic bags and the drugs----or the meth lab and drugs, depending on your drug of interest. The plastic bags and meth lab are the same as the property taxes. All three (the plastic bags, the meth lab, and property tax) are overhead costs to running a business. And the buyer/renter pays for all of those costs.

If the property taxes go up, the landlord raises the rent. If the cost of steel goes up, the price of cars go up. When you buy a car, you're paying for the steel too.

And yes, when you buy clothing manufactured in a third world country, you're paying for child labor.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

Ok, I'm trying to make the point that rent is RENT. It is not paying taxes. If I owned a huge house on L.I. and the only way I could afford to pay my taxes was to sell drugs, does that mean the people who buy the drugs I'm selling pay property tax???

Let's approach this a different way: proof via how the government views renters and property tax.

Here are a couple of examples:

The state of Minnisota allows for a renters property tax refund!

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd...fo/ssrptrp.htm

And in Pennsylvania, low income renters get the same property tax rebates as low income property owners:

http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/ptrr/site/default.asp (broken link)