Act 1 tax shift defeated

[RamboLiberal]

Not good enough.
That's the message voters in Southwestern Pennsylvania school districts were sending to Harrisburg on Tuesday by rejecting Act 1 referendums asking them to trade higher income taxes for property tax cuts. The referendums appeared to be failing in every school district in the region by about a 70 percent to 30 percent margin.

Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Scranton were the only school districts in the state not to offer referendums.

Richard Mason, 62, of Murrysville, was outraged that the question even made it to the ballot.

"I think the referendum is the lazy politician's way out, and I wouldn't (vote for) it on a bet," Mason said as he left the polls at Newlonsburg Presbyterian Church in Murrysville.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_507897.html

Western Pennsylvania taxpayers were voting a strong "no" against shifting some of their property taxes to a larger local income tax to pay for public schools.

Where at least partial results were available, they often were voting 2-1 and 3-1 against specific proposals in their school districts. The region includes more than 80 school districts in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Other newspapers across the state also were reporting early returns showed widespread rejections of referenda in their regions, including the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the Erie Times-News and the Morning Call in Allentown

Chuck Erdo, spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell who had pushed for the referendum, said, "The governor doesn't believe that the defeat of the local tax shifting question is an indication of anything other than confusion."

He added, "Many voters didn't have the information they needed to make a good choice."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07136/786355-181.stm

Governor Rendell - don't insult our intelligence!

[Bunny]

1. He's so arrogant, isn't he? To claim that it was voted down because

people didn't have the information is just obnoxious.

[PhishWithLemon99]

2. now it's time for the bitching to stop...

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about suburban homeowners bitching about their property taxes and why nothing is being done. The money has to come from somewhere, and this was a logical place for it to come from. If people aren't willing to pay more in income taxes to offset property taxes, then they aren't going to get any relief. You can't offset these taxes with nothing, and there isn't a good place to get the money from without screwing a hell of a lot of taxpayers.

It's true that a lot of people weren't informed about it. If voters were aware of what the break-even points were, and if they actually voted, the referenda wouldn't have been defeated so resoundingly. Where my parents live in Dauphin County, the proposal was to implement a PIT with a break-even point around $90,000...and it was still defeated. Tax policy can't be made through voter referenda...those who have the most to lose are going to be the ones who are most vocal.

How easy people forget that property tax reform HURTS a hell of a lot of people...like renters, and people who live in the larger cities where property taxes are one of the more competitive taxes.