Increasing PILT – A Must for Rural PA
An Op-Ed
By: Senator Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson)
Across Pennsylvania, the practice has long been in place of taxing property to help fund our schools. While the school property tax may have made sense when it was first enacted in the 1830’s, constituents today have been voicing loud and clear that the school property tax is one of the most burdensome and distressing taxes.
Shifting to a fairer way to fund our public schools and reforming property taxes is a topic that has gained significant attention in Harrisburg. However, in some cases with land or property in rural Pennsylvania there are no tax payments to “reform” because a large portion of the property is owned by the government.