Jun 12, 2011 2 min read

State legislature sends mixed message

The politicians in Harrisburg are wrong and, typically, hypocritical in regard to rolling back exemptions that allow school districts to raise taxes above the rate of inflation without voter approval.

Right now, 10 exemptions are allowed under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2006. Districts are allowed to raise taxes to keep up with inflation, but if they want more, they have to go before the voters.

However, certain exemptions, which must be approved by the state Department of Education, allowed this requirement to be waived. Included in the mix are pensions and special education.

Gov. Tom Corbett and some lawmakers want to do away with those exemptions.

But there’s a reason to keep them, and, in fact, to dump the voter referendums.

Why?

Because they’re unfair.

School districts seeking voter approval basically become the whipping boy for things people can’t control.

Oil companies can raise the price of gasoline, utilities can charge more for their products, grocery stores can charge more for their goods, health-care insurance premiums can go through the roof, employers can impose pay freezes or cuts, and inflation can cut into paychecks and pensions – and even though people are mad as hell, they have to take it.

Ah, but given the chance — the only one they have — to have their say, they respond to their frustrations with a vengeance.

Perhaps that’s why of the 14 requests that went to voters over the last five years, 13 were rejected.

The politicians in Harrisburg are also being hypocritical because they would never dream of shackling themselves with these restrictions. They want the freedom to do as they please, which is what they generally do.

Beaver County Times