To kill or to cut? Wolf’s property tax plan has competition

The success of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to make Pennsylvania’s school funding system fairer could hinge on this: Whether he can convince enough lawmakers that his plan would end the days of rising school property taxes.

Wolf, a Democrat, has proposed raising state income and sales taxes to carry out a $3.2 billion cut to school property taxes, about one-fourth of the total collected.

His goal is to boost the state’s share of public school costs to 50 percent, up from one-third.

But a key group of Republican lawmakers wants to abolish school property taxes completely and they say Wolf’s plan wouldn’t solve the real problem of more property tax increases. Wolf, however, says he’s committed to ensuring that property tax increases don’t eat away at the tax cuts.