Day Questions State Education Secretary on Budget Plan
HARRISBURG – During today’s House Appropriations Committee hearing with the state Department of Education, Rep. Gary Day (R-Lehigh/Berks), a member of the committee, spoke with Acting Secretary Pedro Rivera about what the governor refers to as his “School Property Tax Reduction Plan.”
According to the governor’s proposed budget, the Personal Income Tax would rise by 21 percent to 3.70 percent and the Sales and Use Tax would be increased from 6.0 percent to 6.6 percent – a 40 percent increase that would also remove several exemptions, such as diapers, day care services, headstones and caskets.
“A property tax reduction plan is never an elimination plan,” Day told the secretary. “Your administration calls it a school property tax reduction plan, making it sound like a good thing for taxpayers, when in fact, it uses components of the elimination idea to raise taxes on Pennsylvanians. That hurts credibility and your mission to help children in Pennsylvania.”
Day cited House Appropriations statistics showing that of the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania, residents in 404 school districts would pay more in higher taxes than receiving in property tax relief. In the 187th District, which Day represents, all taxpayers will pay more.
“If we add up these tax increases, taxpayers are paying $6.3 billion more, and then when subtracting promised tax relief of $3.6 billion, we end up with a net tax hike of $2.7 billion – about a 10 percent overall tax hike, just on what the governor calls a tax reduction plan,” Day explained. “Gov. Wolf’s proposed tax hikes represent exactly what I believe I’m here to stop.”
Day noted his concern in that the administration attempts to use components of an elimination plan to increase the tax burden on working Pennsylvanians.
The House Appropriations statistics are available online at
www.TaxpayersThatPay.com.
Video of this exchange is available at here.
Representative Gary Day
187th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Jennifer Keaton
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