HARRISBURG GOP senators seek vote on property taxes

HARRISBURG (AP) -- Ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Ed Rendell, Republican senators passed their plan ordering school districts to ask voters in a November vote whether they want to swap a local earned income tax increase for a reduction in their property taxes.
The bill passed on a near party-line vote Wednesday, becoming the second major Republican-sponsored bill to pass this week under threat of a veto by the Democratic governor.
The bill passed 27-22, with one Democrat crossing party lines to vote for the bill and two Republicans voting against it. A two-thirds majority -- 34 votes -- would be needed to override a veto.
Rendell so far has failed to persuade GOP senators to advance his proposals to increase income taxes and authorize slot machines as a way to finance a property-tax reduction and a state education-funding increase.
Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, predicted that passage of a GOP bill that draws a Rendell veto will force legislators to work well into July or beyond to strike some sort of compromise -- well after lawmakers are supposed to have begun their traditional two-month summer vacations around Tuesday.
What's in plan
The bill would allow voters in individual districts to eliminate as much as $2.2 billion of the $7.2 billion in property taxes assessed by school districts, replacing them on a dollar-for-dollar basis with a local earned income tax on wages, salaries and net profits.
It is modeled on a 1998 tax reform law known as Act 50 that allows school districts to increase local income taxes to offset reductions in property taxes and the elimination of "nuisance" taxes -- if voters approve. Under that law, voters must approve any subsequent increase in property taxes above a certain percentage.