Harrisburg exploring another way to reduce property taxes

    State House lawmakers in Pennsylvania are pushing with renewed vigor a bill to reduce property taxes.

    To hear House lawmakers tell it, you might think the school property tax is just barely older than efforts to eliminate it. Representative Jim Cox says when crafting his own proposal to chuck the unpopular levy, he began with past efforts that failed. “We have made changes. Significant changes.”

    This latest version finds new revenue for school districts by increasing other levies.

    Cox says his proposal would hike income and state sales taxes by about one percent each. “We also close a lot of the special interests loopholes that have been out there for years and so the sales tax, the sales and use tax, will see an expansion into some currently exempt products and services,” Cox said.

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    Some of those purchases currently exempt from state sales tax include candy, funeral expenses, newspapers, and dry cleaning.

    Cox says his proposal has almost even support between parties.

     

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