I read recently the comments of the former chair of the Selingsgrove Area School District's Act 1 study commission. He supports the shift from real estate tax to earned income tax.
I was the chair of the Milton Tax Study Commission and strongly believe that this tax shift is unfair to those who are income producers. Retirees are constitutionally exempt from paying earned income tax and state income tax on their retirement income and, besides that, many of our region's school districts have higher earned income taxes because of earlier legislation that allowed them by referendum to replace the occupational assessment tax with higher wage taxes.
What is proposed is unreasonably onerous earned income tax rates on those who work for a living. In all due respect to my counterpart from Selingsgrove, I oppose his view and urge voters to reject this legislation and encourage our legislators to revisit the issue and find a fairer resolution.
There are alternatives but they require hard decisions by lawmakers. Our vote on May 15 for the various referendums will hopefully convey to the Legislature and our tax-and-spend governor that we need to address both sides of the school funding issue -- revenue and expenses.
Incidentally I am a retiree who would benefit greatly by the tax shift. I just believe that it is unfair to working men and women and their families. Let us find a better way to educate our children than the governor's approach -- which is to raise taxes and promote gambling as the panacea to solve all of our social problems. All that will do is create many more social problems than before legalized and state-supported gambling existed.
Kenneth P. Johnson,
Milton
Opinion
Unfair shift
- Opinion
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Good-paying jobs
I am writing in response to comments made by several lawmakers and certain media regarding people receiving unemployment compensation not searching for employment but only wanting extensions.
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Economy is tough but still pay rises
It was my first time attending a Lewisburg School Board meeting last night. I went to hear public comment on the Boards recent decision to extend the Superintendents contract, which included a 20-plus percent pay raise.
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Sunbury has a lot to offer
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Mutual aid is necessary
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Lifting me higher
I am not a winner of a Pulitzer Prize, nor am I an author of best selling novels, I'm just a human being attempting to live life here on earth with purpose and I can find no greater way to do that than through my faith and my belief in God.
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Understaffing
I read with interest your article regarding police mutual aid in Northumberland County.
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Carney, Marino ought to get focused on issues
U.S. Rep. Chris Carney and Tom Marino ought to focus on the issues in the upcoming campaign for Congress.
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Blatantly unfair
The Pennsylvania Republican Party is supporting an effort to strike third-party candidates from the general election ballot in November.
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Fiscal responsibility
This editorial letter is only the second such letter I have been moved to pen in my lifetime.
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Schools need a little help from home
Milton High School failed to meet its adequate yearly progress under Pennsylvania's version of the federal No Child Left Behind because one student did not show up for the standardized test.
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Good-paying jobs
