The purpose of this article was to present the results of a study that analyzed Pennsylvania local school boards' taxing authority, pre- and post-enactment of Special Session Act 1, "The Taxpayer Relief Act," in 2006, in terms of its percent share of school districts' total budget in order to better understand the impact of the new…

Living on fixed incomes and faced with increasing taxes, senior citizens frequently feel the squeeze of a tightening economy more than other populations. Their retirement dollars buy less as their property taxes inch upward, despite the fact that they don't have school-age children. The Hempfield and Manheim Township School Districts in…

Recent challenges to the tax-exempt status of private colleges and universities in Pennsylvania result from the convergence of two trends: an aging population that changes the economic balance, and a shift in case law that heretofore favored charities. If the challenges continue, higher education will feel significant negative consequences. (MSE)

Results of study of impact of Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act on 25 school-construction project costs from 1992-97 and effect thereof on local school districts' taxes. All districts had higher construction costs and property taxes. Projects increased construction costs for the Commonwealth and recommends revisions in prevailing wage-rate law.…

To test whether equity in educational expenditure can include equity for taxpayers, the authors analyze two suggested methods for achieving educational equity. The two methods are district power equalizing (DPE), which grants state aid in inverse proportion to school district wealth, and the wealth neutral system (WNS), which takes account of…

The Rural Income Maintenance Experiment (1979) used sample subjects from the Midwest and the South (Iowa and North Carolina) to measure the effect of alternative tax rates and minimum guarantees upon the work behavior of rural male heads of households. Three contingent aspects of job change behavior were examined: the impacts of support on…

Noting that a state's tax policies have direct impact on a family's ability to feed, clothe, house, educate, and care for its children, this report presents an overview of taxes in the state of Pennsylvania. The report is presented in five sections. Section 1 presents the argument that it is necessary to understand the rule driving the revenue…

The Pennsylvania legislature is considering a school finance proposal, exemplified by House Bill 113 of the 2003 legislative session, that would shift some school funding away from local property taxes and toward state funds and local income taxes. The proposal would give greater proportional benefits to homeowners with lower property values. A…

This report reviews local tax reform and describes an approach to simulating the effects of proposed tax reform on local school districts in Pennsylvania. The microcomputer spreadsheet simulation led to the development of a model able to meet the feasibility criteria established for such a simulation model. The model was designed to input…

The effectiveness of state enterprise zone programs was examined by using a hypothetical-firm model called the Tax and Incentives Model-Enterprise Zones (TAIM-ez) model to analyze the value of enterprise zone incentives to businesses across the United States and especially in the 13 states that had substantial enterprise zone programs by 1990. The…