Low blow
This past election probably set a record for the most negative advertisements ever in the history of the country.
That included federal, state and even local races. In fact, one of the most negative ads was against state Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township, who lost his re-election bid to Republican newcomer Matt Dowling.
The ad claimed that Mahoney wanted to raise the state’s income and sales taxes. It added that he also wanted to tax some items which are currently exempt from the sales taxes.
That was all true up to a point. The ad, however, failed to mention that Mahoney was in favor of raising those taxes in exchange for the elimination of school property taxes.
This is certainly more than just politics. The issue of school property taxes is very serious. In fact, it could hold the key to the future development of the area. It shouldn’t be used as a cheap shot just to win an election.
School property taxes are a huge issue among many local senior citizens. They simply can’t afford the ever-increasing school property taxes on their fixed incomes. Some have lost their houses or have been forced to sell the homes they’ve lived in for years because they can’t afford to pay school property taxes.
But the problem even goes deeper than that. It goes to the heart of the education system in the county and the future of our children. School districts across the state are financed mainly by school property taxes. However, while school officials in affluent areas have more then enough money to educate their students, school officials in low-income areas like ours struggle to raise money for the education of our students.
Consider that the Connellsville Area School District has a budget of $68.2 million with an enrollment of 4,648 students. Compare that to the Upper St. Clair School District in Allegheny County, which has a budget of $72.3 million and an enrollment of 4,100 students.
According to a study two years ago, Pennsylvania had the nation’s highest discrepancy in the amount of spending between affluent and low-income school districts. The discrepancy was tagged at 33 percent. The state’s reliance on school property taxes was blamed for the problem.
The problem with eliminating school property taxes is that they raise about $12 billion annually. So, some type of revenue is need to replace those funds. The most likely targets are the state’s income and sale taxes. That was the basis of Act 76 which Mahoney supported. It would have eliminated school property taxes in exchange for raising the personal income tax from 3.07 percent to 4.34 percent and the state’s sales from 6 percent to 7 percent with many of the current exemptions being removed. Most importantly, the money would have gone into a statewide fund and been distributed equally to school districts across the state.
Act 76, however, failed to gain a majority. It was opposed mostly by Republican lawmakers who generally represent the more affluent areas of the state which benefit from the current system.
It’s hard to say how much of an impact the ad on the election. Maybe it got drowned out by all the other negative ads. However, it was a close race with Dowling winning by a margin of 13,271 to 11,721.
The real problem, though, isn’t this particular race. The problem is politics in general. If politicians fear their votes on serious issues, such as school property taxes, can be misconstrued and distorted against them then the temptation may be to just avoid dealing with them altogether. And the thing about these negative political ads is they can be used against anyone in any election.