State Rep. Seth Grove told about 150 residents of the Octorara Area School District on Tuesday that it is time to "put a nail in the coffin" of the state's inequitable property tax system.

Grove (R-York) joined fellow state representatives Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) and John Lawrence (R-Chester) to tout the work of the Legislature's property tax reform committee. They asked residents to join them in supporting proposed new legislation that would replace school property taxes with expanded sales and use taxes and a personal income tax. 

"At the end of the day, we need to get something into law," Grove told an attentive audience at Parkesburg Borough Hall. "If you think property taxes are unfair, you've got to support whatever comes out of committee."

According to the three legislators, leadership in Harrisburg realizes  that school property tax reform is long overdue. They said that in some parts of Pennsylvania, property taxes have not been raised in 20 years and property owners pay as little as $1,000 annually.

"The property tax is one of the most inefficient taxes we have because it doesn't take into account your ability to pay," Lawrence said. "The challenge in front of us is significant."

The legislators said they believe recent property tax relief measures have failed.

Lawrence termed former Gov. Ed Rendell's plan to use legalized gambling to reduce property taxes as "one of the biggest bait-and-switches ever perpetrated on Pennsylvania."

Cutler said that homeowners in the Solanco School District this year received $79 in gambling-generated relief, and those in Octorara received about $270.

The Legislature's property tax reform committee, co-chaired by Grove and state Rep. Jim Cox (R-Berks), will propose replacing the property tax with sales and use taxes that would generate revenue from sales of food, clothing, shoes and prescription drugs, as well as advertising and public relations services.

At the same time, said Grove, school districts must be willing to control spending and school districts must be relieved of the burden of state and federal mandates. 

Grove appeared to be preaching to the choir.

"You are taking forever," Parkesburg resident David Jones said. 

 

"Please keep working on it," said John McCartney Jr., of Sadsbury Township, an Octorara School Board member. 

McCartney said that many Octorara residents were in "despair" of paying property taxes.

"They don't need excuses," he said. "They need results."

Cutler said the school property tax crisis had personally reached him, since his grandmother was deciding whether she could keep her home because of her property tax bill.

"I've already lost one election on this issue," Lawrence said of his reputation for supporting tax reform. 

Cutler and Lawrence both have supported separate legislation which would require the state to return to school districts tax abatements given to property owners who registered in Clean and Green. The burden of this discount currently is shifted to other property owners in rural agricultural school districts. 

The proposed legislation has generated little interest from other regions in the state, they said.

A school district that just last weekend ran a harvest festival to raise funds for student programs cut in budget deliberations appeared to be ripe for a property tax harvest this week.  

 

"I think we deserve better than what we're getting," Sadsbury Township resident Thomas Seth said.  "How can we get back to being the Keystone State we once were?"