SUNBURY – Not so fast…so says one local lawmaker on the idea of eliminated local school property taxes. Leaders in the state senate says they now have the votes to eliminate local school property taxes entirely, however State Representative Fred Keller (R-85th, Kreamer) says that would be a mistake.
Keller said, “Our school districts get their local revenue from the bulk of two sources, property taxes and earned income tax. And, our school districts here in The Valley have higher earned income taxes than many of the places in the Commonwealth. I think that just shifting our property taxes to people who work is just putting a harder burden on our children and our grandchildren, who are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Keller supports keeping property taxes in place, “I’m a proponent of property taxes because 100 percent of that money stays local. And when people talk about it, they only talk about the school property tax. They don’t talk about their county municipal property taxes. Believe me, it is a lot better to keep these revenue sources closer to home then to send the money to Harrisburg to be redistributed.
He explains why redistributing taxes would be bad for the Central Susquehanna Valley, “We rely less, in Union and Snyder County in particular, on property taxes than many other school districts do. Our school districts get probably, I’m going to say 60 to 65 percent of their local revenue from property taxes. Some school districts across the Commonwealth are getting 90 percent of their local revenue from property taxes. And that redistribution would just be extremely unfair to my constituents.”
Keller called WKOK’s On The Mark program Wednesday. He will be a guest on On The Mark Friday at 8:30 a.m. Both interviews will be posted online at www.wkok.com. (Ali Stevens)
