The Democrats are back on the issue, and they say they are serious this time.
“We are committed to making property tax reform the pre-eminent issue come this fall,” Mr. McCall said in an interview last week. “We want to show the Senate we are serious about this issue.”
Glad to see they are “serious” about the issue. But read on, and it seems they are serious about another tax shift scheme:
They said a wide range of possible property tax relief options will be considered. One is Mr. DeWeese’s idea for a 0.5 percent increase in the state sales tax. That would generate about $700 million, with all of it going to lower property taxes. Gov. Ed Rendell has talked about going Mr. DeWeese one better — raising the sales tax a full percentage point, with all $1.4 billion going to lower property taxes.
I have to admit, I like this better than the last scheme. But what happened to all that property tax relief I was supposed to get from the casinos?  Either way, there is a better idea:
Then there is Rep. Samuel Rohrer’s idea. Mr. Rohrer, R-Berks, and some other conservative Republicans have pushed for four years to reduce the sales tax to 5 percent statewide but greatly broaden the base by taxing food and clothing, which are now exempt.
Now there’s an idea I can get behind. Tax restructuring rather than tax raising.  Ed Rendell has never met a tax he wouldn’t like to raise. It’s good to see there are politicians out there trying to think outside the box.