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May 7, 2008 PA Senate Passes County-Wide Earned Income Tax Collection With the help of the Grassroots Lobbying Network, PSATS steered a successful course through this complex legislative problem. The only prior action by the PSATS membership on this subject matter had been the adoption of a 2004 resolution that, among other things, encompassed the notion of county-wide collection. Early in the bill's development, it became clear that a substantial majority of the legislators supported the basic premise of county-wide collection, and an attempt to defeat the bill would have been futile. Accordingly, the PSATS Executive Board adopted a policy to support legislation only if certain harmful provisions (such as inequitable allocation of costs and diminished township participation in tax collection committees) were removed, and other beneficial provisions (such as minimum standards and mandatory annual training for tax collectors, and mandatory mediation for township/collector disputes) were inserted. PSATS negotiated with Senator Earll, the bill's primary sponsor, and the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for months over the exact provisions of this legislation. Senator Earll and DCED had made county-wide collection of taxes a high priority on their legislative agenda, and these efforts were strongly supported by many in Pennsylvania's business community. PSATS withheld its support of SB 1063 until virtually all of the preconditions set for its acceptance were incorporated into the bill. (A summary of those actions is is available below.) The bill has been referred to the House Finance Committee for further consideration but no schedule has been announced yet. Links:
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