Oct 28, 2002 By John M. Perzel 4 min read

By now you have heard and read much rhetoric regarding the dreaded property tax. Everyone, from political candidates to newspaper editorialists, says to cut or abolish the tax. That is easier said or written than done. This issue is more than 30 years old. It transcends political parties, although through some grand illusion, the Democrats are trying to make it an issue by discussing Republican inaction.

They forget that they held the reins of power for years and did nothing when confronted with the property tax reform issue – except try to raise more than $3 billion off the backs of Pennsylvania taxpayers to fix a $1.5 billion property tax problem.

Stereotypically “tax and spend” Democrats. Don’t be fooled by what they may say now – this is still the Democrats’ trademark solution.

House Republicans are determined to work on and pass a responsible property tax solution to help Pennsylvania residents. We plan to fight for a responsible plan, not the most politically expedient or easiest answer.

Property taxes generate more than $7 billion each year for our schools, and that is a lot of money. Demagogues that they are, the Democrats would have you believe that we can just simply vote to cut property taxes without worrying about how to pay for public education. It’s not that easy.

The current Pennsylvania state budget totals $20.7 billion. We already invest $9 billion in public education, $7 billion for health and human services, and $3 billion for public protection and security. That leaves a little more than $2 billion for other programs.

Regardless of how good a sound bite it makes to say otherwise, there are no large numbers of “free” state dollars available for property tax relief. If we take the $2 billion allocated for “other programs” and put it toward property tax relief, we no longer fund health insurance for kids, grants and loans to enhance economic development, job training or long-term care for seniors. In fact, entire state agencies would have to be eliminated. It was tough enough to cut spending in the current tight budget year, let alone find $3 to $7 billion more to reduce or eliminate property taxes. This is where reality sets in.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is spending more on education than ever before. Direct aid to public schools has increased by $1.4 billion since 1995, and special education funding has increased nearly $300 million. Additional funding supports schools transportation, technology upgrades, and more. In fact, there are 221 school districts around the state currently receiving 50 percent or more of their expenditures from the state and federal governments.

The bottom line: Our school districts receive quite a bit of state taxpayer funding – ever increasing funding in fact. But school district spending seems to continually increase beyond anyone’s expectations. There have only been three years since 1987 that combined school district annual spending grew at a rate below 3 percent.

So what factors keep driving these spending increases in school districts? Salaries and benefits, which on average represent more than 70 percent of the district’s costs.

It is time to put the responsibility of increased school tax spending where it belongs. The truth of the matter is that until school districts begin to control their own spending, and teacher unions go back to their original priority of educating our children, local spending will continue to skyrocket.

So what can the state do to relieve the local property tax burden?

We can allow local school boards to choose from a menu of options to raise needed school revenues. And we can limit the amount of taxes they can raise without asking voters for permission.

You deserve a say in how your money is spent. This is a format to keep your school district decisions local, and this is the sensible, responsible thing to do.

Please check out our Web site for more information and graphs, www.pahousegop.com.

Rep. John M. Perzel, R-Philadelphia, is the House Majority Leader.