Unfair shift

April 23, 2007 02:15 pm

— I read recently the comments of the former chair of the Selingsgrove Area School District's Act 1 study commission. He supports the shift from real estate tax to earned income tax.
I was the chair of the Milton Tax Study Commission and strongly believe that this tax shift is unfair to those who are income producers. Retirees are constitutionally exempt from paying earned income tax and state income tax on their retirement income and, besides that, many of our region's school districts have higher earned income taxes because of earlier legislation that allowed them by referendum to replace the occupational assessment tax with higher wage taxes.
What is proposed is unreasonably onerous earned income tax rates on those who work for a living. In all due respect to my counterpart from Selingsgrove, I oppose his view and urge voters to reject this legislation and encourage our legislators to revisit the issue and find a fairer resolution.
There are alternatives but they require hard decisions by lawmakers. Our vote on May 15 for the various referendums will hopefully convey to the Legislature and our tax-and-spend governor that we need to address both sides of the school funding issue -- revenue and expenses.
Incidentally I am a retiree who would benefit greatly by the tax shift. I just believe that it is unfair to working men and women and their families. Let us find a better way to educate our children than the governor's approach -- which is to raise taxes and promote gambling as the panacea to solve all of our social problems. All that will do is create many more social problems than before legalized and state-supported gambling existed.
Kenneth P. Johnson,
Milton