DV Journal

One day after Pennsylvanians filed their income taxes, President Joe Biden visited his hometown of Scranton on Tuesday and promised to cut middle-class taxes if given another term.

Biden will also visit Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Friday—the eighth time the president or vice president will have come to Pennsylvania this year, according to his campaign. It’s yet another sign of the key role the Keystone State will play in the Electoral College in November.

Former President Donald Trump was in the Lehigh Valley on Saturday.

During a Monday press call, Biden campaign officials bashed Trump for the tax cuts he enacted in his first term, saying they favored billionaires and corporations. Former National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said that if Trump were reelected, he would bring “a plan our economy and our country simply can’t afford.”

He said Trump would extend the tax cuts for high-income individuals and give billionaires more than $3.5 million in tax relief every year. That would come by repealing the Affordable Care Act. They said Trump would also give large corporations a $1.5 trillion “windfall,” letting them use special loopholes to pay little or nothing in taxes.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would also increase taxes on millionaires by 25 percent to make the “wealthy” pay “their fair share” toward Medicare, Deese said.

In fact, the Tax Foundation reports top earners are already paying a disproportionate share of taxes.

“The current federal tax system is highly progressive. For the individual income tax alone, the top 1 percent of earners pay about 45.8 percent of total income taxes, and the top 10 percent of earners pay nearly 76 percent of total income taxes, said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst with the Tax Foundation.

“Looking at the federal tax system overall, the federal tax rate in 2019 began at 0.5 percent for the bottom 20 percent of earners to a 30 percent effective tax rate for the top 1 percent of earners, which show the system is progressive. The share of all federal taxes paid by the top 1 percent stands at about 25 percent, up from an average of 14.3 percent in the 1980s,” Wilson said.

“We have also looked closely at the entire tax and transfer system within the U.S, including non-tax transfers at all levels of government,” he said.

“The lowest quintile experienced a combined tax and transfer rate of negative 127.0 percent, meaning that for each dollar they earned, they received an additional $1.27 from the government, netting transfers (gains) and taxes (losses), while the top quintile had a rate of positive 30.7 percent, meaning on net they paid just under $0.31 for every dollar earned,” he said.

The Biden campaign also charged that Trump would help wealthy tax cheats by repealing the $87 billion Democrats have dedicated to increased IRS audits.

“You’re…allowing tax cheats to operate with impunity,” said Deese.

However, according to The Wall Street Journal, 63 percent of new audits last year targeted the middle class, despite promises audits would be aimed at those making $400,000 or more.

And Biden’s proposed $7.3 trillion fiscal year 2025 budget includes a $4.9 trillion tax increase.

“This is a classic tax-and-spend budget that continues large deficits even after big tax hikes,” according to Brian Riedl of the Manhattan Institute.

Dan Kanninen, Biden’s campaign battleground states director, said the Biden campaign has seven offices in the Delaware Valley and is aggressively reaching out to voters.

Kanninen said Biden has helped “create half a million jobs” in Pennsylvania.

“We’re building roads and bridges across the state. Meanwhile, Trump and his MAGA allies in Pennsylvania are saddled with a deeply unpopular agenda,” he said.

“Trump’s MAGA brand has become toxic in the Philadelphia suburbs, which are key swing areas that decide any Pennsylvania race statewide,” he said. Despite recent losses in statewide races, Republicans are becoming “more extreme,” he said. While Democrats are winning on their pledges to safeguard democracy, abortion and LGBTQ rights, he said.

Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the important issue is the economy.

“President Trump proudly passed the largest tax cuts in history. Joe Biden is proposing the largest tax hike ever which would take nearly $40,000 away from the average American family who is already losing thousands every year due to Biden’s record-high inflation crisis.

“When President Trump is back in the White House, he will advocate for more tax cuts for all Americans and reinvigorate America’s energy industry to bring down inflation, lower the cost of living, and pay down our debt.”

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(This article first appeared in Broad + Liberty.)

Delaware County Councilwoman Christine Reuther said last week the county was already eyeing a “sizable” new tax increase to meet the demands of an ever-expanding budget that now includes inflation-fueled pay raises, running a prison, and managing a health department that’s only two years old.

Reuther’s remarks at Wednesday’s personnel board meeting comes less than four months after council voted to approve a five percent tax increase on county residents — the first county-wide tax increase since 2014 and the first tax increase since Democrats took over the majority of the council after the 2019 elections.

Reuther seemed irked when responding to a presentation from the director of the county health department who was asking for a number of raises to complete a department “realignment.” Many of those raises, the director said, would be offset by grant funding.

But then the director said, “I think they [employees in other departments] too should consider the opportunity to get paid better.”

Reuther jumped in.

“But the problem is [the other employees are] not grant funded and we’re looking at a sizable tax increase just to keep things where they are for next year. So I mean, that’s the reality. I’m hoping it’s not going to be as sizable as some people think it will be, but there is going to be a…,” and Reuther then cut herself off.

(Video here, minute 25:25)

Reuther’s forecast of a “sizable tax increase” was underscored by comments made earlier in the meeting from Delaware County Controller Joanne Phillips, who questioned some of the raises that were up for approval.

As an independently elected official, Phillips is tasked with being the taxpayer’s watchdog. She is not, however, a member of the personnel board, and as such, addressed the board during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“I just wanted to make it clear that the costs that you’re considering today are just the salaries, not any other benefits, and the cost of our benefits that go into our budget,” Phillips began, (video, minute 1:10).

“Two, I wanted to make note that there’s an impact on our pension ultimately, which hasn’t really been determined as we accelerate our salaries. If that’s the case, our salaries have really gone up in the last couple years. We’ve gone from about $167 million after Covid after the prison came online to looking at really, almost $188 million about two years later. So we are incrementally raising this a great deal.”

In an email to Broad + Liberty, Phillips clarified that her 2022 payroll figure should have been $162 million, and she estimates $187 million for 2024 — in other words, an increase of $25 million in two years. The 2022 baseline payroll number already includes all of the employees added by the county taking over the prison and creating the health department.

Phillips also submitted a memo to the personnel board, which was just as stern in its warnings.

“The [Government Finance Officers Association] warns against excessive labor costs, noting that labor costs comprise a high proportion of most local governments’ budgets,” Phillips wrote.

“Excessive compensation costs can severely damage a government’s financial position.”

“After the grant funding ends, the County will be left with the entire cost of the program, especially compensation increases. That is the situation we see here in a few of the agenda items,” she added later in the memo.

A spokesperson for the county provided little additional information. “The [fiscal year] budget will be presented and voted on later this year. The County doesn’t have any additional comments to add,” said Adrienne Marofsky.

Phillips’ comments that each dollar in salary has other sidebar costs is accurate and apropos.

Broad + Liberty asked the county in 2022 how much it spent in these “parallel” costs on things such as the county’s obligation to make Social Security contributions for every employee, and the cost of fringe benefits like health insurance, etc.

The county gave an estimate of 70 percent. When Broad + Liberty double-checked to see if that meant that the county spent an additional 70 cents for every dollar of employee salary in other obligatory costs, the county did not respond.

Broad + Liberty presented the same figures to the county again for the purposes of this report, and once again, the county did not respond to the core question.

If the county does have a parallel cost of 70 cents for every dollar of payroll, then the $25 million in payroll increases forecast by Controller Phillips means the county has incurred another $17.5 million in additional payroll obligations, like benefits, because of the raises.

Putting the two figures together means the county’s comprehensive cost of payroll increases from 2022 to 2024 will be around $42.5 million.

After Democrats won control of the county council in the wake of the 2019 elections, enacting many of the reforms they promised such as the creation of a county health department and de-privatizing the prison have put constant pressure on the budget. Some of that budgetary pressure was temporarily papered over by funds received from the federal government to help with the 2020 pandemic. But now, four years later, most of that pandemic money is gone.

When the county hired a consultant to estimate how much the county would spend if it operated the prison itself as opposed to the private contractor, the consultant’s top-end projection was $49.9 million.

In the current budget, the county is spending $56.6 million, even as the prison’s overall population has been drastically reduced by twenty percent or more.

In addition, the county is also now seeing the first wave of lawsuits from the prison now that it is the liable party for most of the prison activity, as opposed to the private contractor holding that liability.

Under Democratic control, the county has also spent millions more on outside legal help.

Previous analysis of the budget by Broad + Liberty estimated that even after passing the $5 million tax increase last year, the county was still facing an annual structural deficit of $65 million.

For the typical American, paying federal income taxes is the most boring — and terrifying — thing we do every year.

It’s boring because auto mechanics and nurses and sales people have to dig around in file drawers and shoe boxes trying to find numbers to fill out government forms. It’s terrifying because one mistake, no matter how innocent, can lead to more paperwork, financial penalties or … the dreaded IRS audit.

Taxpayer dread has increased America’s $13.9 billion tax preparation industry. Companies like Intuit, H&R Block and TaxSlayer charge taxpayers a fee to help them pay a bill for something they didn’t buy and don’t want — income taxes.

No other bill gets paid this way. Has a plumber or doctor ever sent you a letter demanding you figure out how much you owe them for a new toilet or an appendectomy and then ordered you to send them the money? Or else?

For years, Americans have asked why they must do the IRS’s work for them. Instead of paying a third party to figure out the bill, why not have the IRS — which already has all of the W-2, 1099, etc. information — set up a system where citizens file their taxes directly?

Now they have.

This month, the IRS launched its Direct File pilot program that allows taxpayers who earned modest amounts and have simple tax bills to skip the third parties and pay directly.

It’s a small pilot program covering 12 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. There are income caps for eligible filers and the window for participating in the pilot program is temporary, the IRS says.

It’s an idea “that’s at least 25 years late,” says Richard Kaplan, who teaches tax policy at the University of Illinois College of Law. “There are about 60 or so countries who’ve been doing this for quite some time. The IRS has been receiving reports on wages since World War II, and it’s been collecting data on capital gains and other income for decades.”

And yet, as modest as this attempt to connect taxpayers directly to the IRS is, well-paid lobbyists for the tax prep industry are trying to kill it.

According to the political transparency website Open Secrets, these companies had spent more than $90 million lobbying against the Direct File program as of last September. Their allies in Congress claim the funding being used for the pilot program was intended for a study and did not authorize an actual program.

“The outcome of the $15 million ‘feasibility study’ authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act was a foregone conclusion, and taxpayers are rightfully concerned about having the already distrusted IRS function as their tax preparer, filer and auditor,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri.

Supporters of the Direct File program respond that consumers are free to continue to pay tax prep services if they choose. While the IRS is hardly perfect, the big tax-prep companies have had their own problems.

Data have been sold to big tech companies, preparers have targeted minority communities, and millions of taxpayers have found themselves falling prey to a giant upsell scheme. An industry born out of need has metastasized into an economic bully, critics say.

“Of course, the paid providers, whether in person or through software, are upset about this because they don’t want the competition,” says Robert Nassau, director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at Syracuse University College of Law. He calls Direct File “a wonderful idea and a long-overdue improvement to tax administration.”

As for the claims by the Big Tax behemoths that they already offer free services to low-income filers via an arrangement with the IRS, this, too, is a tale of attempting to smother choices for consumers.

Twenty years ago, Intuit and other commercial tax prep companies launched the Free File program, pledging to provide services to needy taxpayers via the private sector in exchange for the IRS not launching its own service.

However, multiple investigations found that the companies made the free service web pages extremely hard for consumers to find. And they used the websites to push people toward for-fee products.

In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission announced an administrative action against Intuit for misleading people about free tax filing with TurboTax. In January 2024, the FTC followed up with an order that the company end its deceptive advertising for allegedly “free” tax prep services.

There is big money at stake, reports ProPublica. “In a single year, tax prep companies led by Intuit generated $1 billion in revenue from customers who should have been able to file for free, according to one analysis.”

Direct File is an option for taxpayers this tax season, and while it’s a government program, it promotes that most capitalist of ideals: Competition. Having Direct File in the marketplace could lead to lower costs and improved service across the industry.

“I think this will lead to lower pricing for those who use a paid provider,” Nassau said.

Tax prep companies should stop complaining and start competing.

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This year has ushered in a lot of expensive talk in Harrisburg.

In just two months, we have seen Gov. Josh Shapiro and legislative Democrats push separate plans to increase taxpayer-funded spending by billions of dollars.

First, a partisan report from the Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) called for a $5 billion increase in education funding. Not to be outdone, Gov. Shapiro followed up with a whopping state budget proposal that spends nearly $50 billion, an 8 percent increase over the current year. In response, we have already seen warnings from media organizations that expensive proposals like this will lead to massive tax increases on all Pennsylvanians.

So, here we are again. The age-old argument that the best medicine for Pennsylvania’s problems is to throw more tax dollars into the void. Problem: The courts decided the system by which we fund public education is unfair. Solution: Spend more money! Problem: Pennsylvania is economically uncompetitive. Solution: Spend more money

This thinking is akin to topping off the gas tank of a car with a broken engine. No amount of money is going to mysteriously raise the test scores by which we judge whether or not our kids are learning. And no amount of money is going to magically make Pennsylvania’s archaic business policies more attractive to job creators.

Gov. Shapiro continues to traverse the state, saying he wants to “get stuff done,” and in his budget address, he called on the legislature to do more to help Pennsylvania compete with our neighbors. But his actions say the opposite.

Whether it’s fighting to protect an unconstitutional tax in court that will stifle energy production and cause utility costs to skyrocket or caving to special interests by vetoing hundreds of millions of dollars for poor kids in low-achieving schools, the governor has shown he’s willing to talk the talk but then walk in the opposite direction.

With that said, lawmakers cannot just be “no” on everything. We need to start thinking big to address the issues facing our Commonwealth. Pennsylvania is not going to tax and spend its way to economic prosperity, but we are also not going to make people’s lives better by doing nothing.

Instead of enacting the governor’s plan and forcing tax increases on Pennsylvanians, why don’t we let folks keep more of their hard-earned money? Recently, I circulated a legislative memo to reduce the Personal Income Tax that has received bipartisan support. As costs continue to rise, people deserve to keep more of what they earn and not have to worry about increases in their tax bills.

Now is the time to make monumental changes to our education system because what we have is clearly not working for everyone. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2021, Pennsylvania ranked in the top 12 in state spending per pupil. Furthermore, the Commonwealth Foundation points out that Pennsylvania’s per-pupil funding increased to $21,263 in the 2021-22 school year, up from 37.6 percent since 2013.

And while we have consistently increased state funding for education by record amounts over the years, we have continued to see students’ test scores lag. What if we gave students in underperforming schools that $21,000 and just see if they can’t find a better place to learn?

While we’re looking at how we fund public education, we should finally tackle property tax reform. For years, families and seniors on fixed incomes have had to deal with this ever-increasing burden. Now, as mortgage rates and home prices rise, young people can’t even begin to think about getting that first home at all. Property taxes are just another massive barrier preventing many from achieving what was once the pinnacle of the American Dream.

Finally, if we want Pennsylvania to compete economically with our neighbors, let’s put forth policy that actually puts us in their league. According to the Tax Foundation, Pennsylvania ranks 31st in tax competitiveness for job creators.

Let’s accelerate the reduction of the Corporate Net Income Tax, something Gov. Shapiro has said he supports, and let’s do it without anti-business poison pills like combined reporting. Let’s finally tackle real permitting reform with reasonable timelines for approval so that businesses can actually responsibly plan ahead in Pennsylvania.

If the governor wants to “get stuff done,” House Republicans are ready and willing. But he should come up with better ideas than emptying the state’s reserves and increasing taxes on Pennsylvanians. Now is the time for big change, so let’s “get it done.”

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The Democratic majority on an education funding commission is backing an additional $5.4 billion in new taxpayer spending on public schools in Pennsylvania. Republicans and supporters of education reform say taxpayers are already spending record amounts, and it’s time to make real changes.

“Members of the General Assembly will see the report for what it is, just another biased political sideshow rather than a constructive tool to help the General Assembly and the governor reach a rational compromise on the distribution of basic education funding,” Commonwealth Foundation Vice President Stephen Bloom told DVJournal. “The report calls for billions in new spending without accountability or incentives for student performance, ignoring the pressing need for more educational choices for Pennsylvania families.”

Last week the Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) voted 8-7 along party lines in favor of a Democratic-backed report calling for at least $200 million each year in new spending “to help school districts with rising costs and inflationary pressures.”

The commission was responding to a Commonwealth Court judge’s ruling last year declaring Pennsylvania’s current education funding system violates the state’s constitution. “Petitioners and students attending low-wealth districts are being deprived of equal protection of law,” Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled.

The commission’s Democratic majority, along with the Shapiro administration, suggested that the current basic education funding mechanism needed readjusting to reduce volatility. Democrats also criticized charter school costs, arguing that taxpayers needed to pay more for them. That would be accomplished through re-establishing the state charter reimbursement – eliminated in 2011 by the state legislature.

“We consistently heard that we must reduce the financial burdens school districts face from charter schools,” wrote Sens. Vincent J. Hughes (D-Philadelphia) and Nick Miller (D-Allentown). Both served as Senate representatives on the BEFC panel. “Charter school costs have exploded [since the reimbursement was repealed]. We support a significant investment in this area as school district charter school costs hover around $3 billion annually.”

No Republicans voted for the majority report. But that didn’t stop Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro from praising it as “a reflection of…the consensus across Pennsylvania, and among leaders in both parties.” He said that it provides “a real path forward to deliver a comprehensive solution on K-12 education in Pennsylvania.”

And House Democrats called the majority report a “compromise.”

Republicans disagree.

Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) scoffed at the $5.4 billion additional demand by the majority. “We recognize the need for change in the way education is funded and, through our report, are making recommendations that address the funding formula,” he said. “What we are not willing to do is to step outside of our mission as a commission and recommend a specific monetary number. That is the purview of the entirety of the General Assembly and the administration.”

Shapiro’s administration did not answer emails from DVJournal on whether he supported tax increases to fund the recommended $5.4 billion Democrats recommend to close the gap between rich and poor districts.

Rather than increased spending, Republicans say their minority report would promote increased accountability.

“Government-run education needs to be accountable to the students and parents who depend on it and to the citizens who pay for it,” said Sen. Greg Rothman (R-Cumberland/Dauphin/Perry). “We need to create opportunities for all students, hold schools accountable for student outcomes and further empower parents in the education of their children.”

And the Commonwealth Foundation decried the majority report as “deeply disappointing.”

“History has shown that continuously pouring more money into the public school system doesn’t improve educational outcomes,” said Commonwealth Foundation Director of Legislative Strategy Kevin Kane. “But it does lead to higher taxes. In fact, the commission’s recommendation to increase government spending by nearly $6 billion would cost Pennsylvania families an additional $2,000 per year. The report is a laundry list of special interest spending proposals, rather than a serious attempt to help Pennsylvania’s students.”

And, Republicans wrote in their minority report that the state already spends $17.8 billion on education, “which represents 40 percent of the state’s General Fund.”

Commonwealth Foundation statistics say that Pennsylvania’s per-pupil spending is $21,263. In a typical classroom of 20 students, that equals $425,260. The Pennsylvania Department of Education said that classroom teachers make an average of $74,723 a year.

That means less than 18 percent of education spending goes to the teachers doing the educating, critics note.

Neither report impressed BEFC member Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny County) who voted against them both.

“I did not want the public to look at a unanimous Democratic-only report and think that it represents our shared goals for this year’s budget,” she said accusing legislators of talking in circles. “It does not. A unanimous Democratic-only report risks setting the ceiling for negotiations—and this report is closer to my floor.”

Bloom, who formerly represented Cumberland County in the Pennsylvania House, called the BEFC report a missed opportunity.

“[T]he commission had the opportunity to make a positive difference for Pennsylvania students by proposing realistic options for restoring equity to the process of distributing basic education funding…It squandered that opportunity in favor of preserving entrenched unconstitutional inequities,” Bloom said.

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This column first appeared in Broad + Liberty.

The phrase “perfect storm” is frequently overused, but in the case of Upper Darby Township, it’s completely accurate.

New tax increases for the municipal government and school district are imminent due to questionable spending by both authorities. When you combine these tax increases with irresponsible, unfunded spending at the county level, the already overtaxed residents of Upper Darby are about to pick up the tab for the gross negligence of their administration.

I ask that you indulge me and permit me to set the stage here with some history.

I served as chairman of Upper Darby’s township economic development organization from 2018–2020. Appointed by Mayor Thomas Miccozzie and approved by the council, my committee was charged with assessing the relative economic competitiveness of the commonwealth’s sixth-largest municipality and advising the administration on steps it could take to strengthen the local economy and the municipal government’s overall fiscal position.

My analysis in 2018 was simple: Upper Darby residents are victims of both Pennsylvania’s unfair, archaic, and balkanized system of local taxation and a completely irrational tax structure in neighboring Philadelphia that chases out private capital and exacerbates poverty in the nation’s poorest big city. Proponents of the city wage tax and its defenders in Harrisburg have, over time, created a system that punishes the vulnerable, promotes the flight of families and businesses, and widens the economic gap between the rich and poor.

These compounding forces create a dynamic where Upper Darby families and businesses are incentivized to flee to environs where real estate taxes represent a smaller percentage of the value of their homes and where real estate values are less likely to decline due to excessive tax burdens that consume the home equity of working families.

My conclusion was equally simple: Though the town faced major structural challenges, a death spiral could be avoided with the right mix of policy leadership, strong fiscal management, and community engagement. However, two things had to happen.

First, we had to grow our way out of the problem by attracting new businesses and private investment. This would create economic opportunities for residents and allow the government to shift some of the local tax burden away from working families. Developing the 69th Street commercial corridor, the Drexeline Town Center, and the township’s various local business districts were essential to success.

Second, we needed to work closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development so they would better understand the structural challenges that undermined urban, working-class municipalities like Upper Darby all across Pennsylvania. Their partnership could mean access to the sort of state subsidies, such as Keystone Opportunity Zones, that rejuvenated many struggling neighborhoods in the city.

As a result, Upper Darby became the first municipality in the commonwealth to enter the state’s Strategic Township Management program in 2019. We were provided a grant to develop an economic development strategy to not just stave off disaster but also reimagine the local economy. The work had the full support of the Micozzie Administration and a large majority of the town council, but the support was not unanimous.

Then-Councilwoman Barabrann Keffer dismissed the plan as a distraction at a public hearing and refused to support it. She would go on to be elected mayor later in 2019, and a few months into her term, she dismantled the committee entirely and the township’s engagement with the Strategic Township Management Program. The Drexeline Town Center project was stalled. In 2020’s summer of rage, riots decimated the 69th Street commercial corridor. And the new administration repeatedly demonstrated incompetence in managing its fiscal affairs, including the mishandling of federal funds that led to the resignation of Keffer’s chief administrator.

Perhaps Mayor Keffer regrets that decision today.

Four years later, on Sept. 20, 2023, Mayor Keffer called a town hall to inform the Upper Darby Township residents that the administration had entered the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Strategic Township Management Program. They had received a grant to work with a consultant to assess the township’s local economy and financial position. The consultant’s findings were dire: the administration failed to conduct the proper audits and misspent funds, diminishing its capacity to borrow. Years of poor fiscal management and declining revenues will yield structural deficits for the foreseeable future unless new, regressive taxes are thrust upon residents, many of whom are struggling to afford the current tax burden.

Go figure.

The administration’s presentation was unsettling for several reasons. First, as I have outlined above, despite the obvious challenges, this predicament was entirely avoidable. Second, close observers of Delaware County politics from both sides of the aisle quietly admit that the administration has been a disaster in every sense of the word. Third, and most importantly, it was what the presentation did not say that was most unsettling. The administration’s analysis failed to account for how the other taxing authorities were managing their affairs, which is no small matter. In short, the town is indisputably on the precipice of financial Armageddon.

The median household income in Upper Darby is $62,500 and the median value of an owner-occupied home is $207,500 (according to censusreporter.org). The owner of the house is obligated to pay real estate taxes to three government entities: the township, school district, and county. The total taxes currently levied by those three entities is 42.1414 mills. A median-priced house is taxed $8,744 annually, which is equal to fourteen percent of the median household income. Homeowners are reaching the breaking point. Add insurance, repairs, utilities, and home ownership, and it is becoming close to unaffordable for a working-class family, as it has been for seniors on fixed incomes for some time.

Things have been difficult for homeowners in Upper Darby, but they are about to get considerably worse.

The school district passed its most recent budget using $20 million in money given to the district by the federal government to help with expenses incurred because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem is the money was largely used to add recurring costs, such as personnel. There will be no $20 million from the federal government in next year’s budget, so the district is confronted with a $20 million structural deficit. Guess where they are most likely to go to get that money? Even with the $20 million in federal funds, the district still needed a tax increase and money from its “rainy day” fund to balance its budget this year.

In addition, the district has decided to double its current debt load and build a new school costing at least $100M. In order to build it, they will need to issue bonds; the annual cost of those bonds will be $7M. The district will no doubt have inflation adjustments of several million to the next budget in addition to the bonds and the unfunded deficit. If we add all these up, there is a likely need for more than a $30M increase in school taxes.

Of course, they could cancel the new school and lay off a significant number of employees. They could, but probably cannot or will not. If my worst case comes true, the district could find it must raise taxes by six mills or more — that’s $1,200 on the median home.

This brings us back to the township. According to its presentation, the municipal government is basically bankrupt. The township deficit will be $11M within eighteen months. The causes of the condition are complex but certainly include a large dose of mis-, mal-, and nonfeasance.

For instance, more than a million and a half dollars went to lawyers, including a Montgomery County lawyer who happens to be, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the largest contributors to local Democrats. That number is higher than the entire county government spent on outside legal fees in 2019, the last year of GOP control.

You might ask, are the hundreds of thousands of dollars in missing parking fees the only example of official legerdemain? Further, do you feel safer in Upper Darby today than in 2019? Given that the number of homicides has more than tripled under this administration’s watch, spending a bit more on police and a bit less on lawyers seems like a good idea.

By the way, the argument that the township lost any meaningful amount of revenue during the pandemic is preposterous given its tax structure. Local real estate taxes represent the vast majority of total revenue. During the Covid lockdowns, the federal government made mortgage payments, inclusive of property taxes, for those who could not, while the township government itself operated at reduced capacity (e.g. cost). The pandemic cannot be blamed for this problem with a straight face.

If we add the $11M the township needs to the $30M the school district needs we are up to a $41M structural deficit. But WAIT! It does not end there!

Our betters in Media will also need more of Upper Darby residents’ hard-earned dollars; after all, they know so much better how to spend it. The County Council has already acknowledged publicly that they will need to seek “new revenues.” If our estimates at Broad + Liberty are correct, their forthcoming $60M structural deficit will add approximately $5M to Upper Darby’s real estate tax burden.

Let’s sum this up: $30M (Upper Darby School District) + $11M (Upper Darby Township) + $5M (Delaware County) equals a $46M structural deficit. The additional ten mills required to cover this deficit will mean Upper Darby’s relative tax burden will be 32 percent higher than Swarthmore (35 mills), 61 percent higher than Media (20 mills), 63 percent higher than Radnor (19 mills), and an eye-popping 69 percent higher than Newtown Township (16 mills). Where are the local progressives demanding the affluent pay their fair share? Well, by and large, they live in those towns. Meanwhile, in Upper Darby, the owner of the average home will pay an additional $2,000 in local taxes.

Plus, the administration has proposed levying a new earned income tax, which it intends to split with the school district. A policy that will undoubtedly drive income earners to flee to nearby Haverford, Springfield, and Marple Townships in droves. Its yield to the government is likely to be a fraction of current estimates.

I welcome those running the township, school district, and county to challenge my numbers. I hope, for the good of the town, they will prove me wrong.

I suspect they will not, because they cannot.

Whether by evil genius or complete incompetence, those responsible for being good stewards of our tax dollars have failed the residents of Upper Darby miserably and, given the state of the schools, streets, and parks, have precious little to show for it. Luckily most have yards big enough for a garden — that’s if they want to eat.

Every April, Pennsylvanians are reminded of their crushing tax burden—one of the highest in the nation. And a growing number of Pennsylvanians have had enough. A new poll by the Commonwealth Foundation finds more than four-in-ten Pennsylvanians have either thought about leaving the state or know someone who has thoughts about leaving or has already left. They point to lower cost of living, better jobs and opportunities, and lower taxes among the top reasons for leaving.

As state lawmakers discuss the next state budget, they need to put fiscal safeguards in place to restore Pennsylvania as an attractive place to live and work.

According to the poll, almost 70 percent of Pennsylvanians think their taxes are too high—and they’re not wrong. Between property, sales, excise, and income taxes, Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest tax rates in the United States, 30 percent higher than the national average. The average Pennsylvania resident must surrender $14 to the state in various taxes for every $100 they earn—on top of the $11,000 paid by the average U.S. household in federal income taxes each year. The state also has the third-highest gas tax, following only California and Illinois.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s tax climate isn’t much better for businesses.

Pennsylvania has an overall rank of 33 in the Tax Foundation’s 2023 State Business Tax Climate Index, with 50 being the worst. Another report ranks Pennsylvania as the seventh-worst state in which to start a new business.

Pennsylvanians recognize the challenges businesses face and hold an overall dim outlook on economic opportunity in the state. The poll found only one-in-ten respondents believe Pennsylvania is better for businesses than it was ten years ago—with the majority saying that the state is worse. Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvanians think that economic conditions in Pennsylvania are getting worse, not better.

The data is clear—high taxes and other state barriers make Pennsylvania an expensive, and difficult, place to live or start a business. Unsurprisingly, people are fed up and moving to states with friendlier economic climates.

From July 2021 to July 2022, Pennsylvania lost nearly 40,000 residents to other states, the eighth-largest population loss from domestic migration within that timeframe in the United States. This is not an outlier or a new problem. Every year since 2010, except for one, the commonwealth experienced a net loss in domestic migration.

Then there are also the Pennsylvanians that haven’t left yet but want to. The poll found that it’s Pennsylvanians between 18 and 44—our workforce and taxpayers—that most want to leave. They’re looking to Florida, Texas, and South Carolina as top destinations for relocation, the same states they listed as having better economic outlooks.

Gov. Josh Shapiro needs to turn things around, but his latest budget proposal doesn’t do that.

Pennsylvania is barreling toward a major structural deficit over the next few years. But Shapiro’s budget proposal spends almost $2.9 billion more than ongoing revenue, exacerbating this deficit and making future tax increases more likely. The budget also excludes the business tax reductions Shapiro campaigned on—specifically, his promise to lower the corporate net income tax (CNIT) from 9.99 to 4 percent by 2025.

Pennsylvanians need a reasonable budget and new fiscal safeguards to protect them from excessive overspending and future tax hikes.

A first step is for lawmakers to pass the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA), a constitutional amendment that would tie state spending growth to inflation and population growth. TPA would break the cycle of the commonwealth overspending in good economic times and raising taxes in the aftermath of recessions. A similar reform has had immense success in Colorado, ensuring that its state spending never outpaces taxpayers’ ability to pay the bill.

If this safeguard had been put into place since 2003, Pennsylvania taxpayers would have saved nearly $20,000 in taxes per family of four over the last two decades.

Pennsylvanians have had enough of high taxes and are increasingly looking to other states, but there’s still an opportunity to reverse these trends.

State lawmakers need to expedite CNIT reductions and stem future tax increases by restraining spending now. Easing the tax burden will help Pennsylvania stem the exodus and become an attractive destination for families and businesses.

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Despite most Montgomery County residents sending Democrats to Harrisburg and Congress, 147th House District voters elected Republican Donna Scheuren in 2022.

“No doubt the 147th House District is unique, as it is a district completely within the confines of Montgomery County that chose a Republican to represent it,” said Scheuren. “I believe the voices of all residents need to be heard, whether those beliefs are from the left, the right, or the center.”

“I feel my responsibility is great,” Scheuren told Delaware Valley Journal. “I am honored to have been elected on the values and principles that I aspire to, and I know those shared values of good schools, low taxes, safe communities, opportunity, and decent paying jobs are held by the majority of the voters in the 147th district.”

Donna and Dave Scheuren

The 147th District consists of part of Montgomery County consisting of the Townships of Douglass, Franconia (part), Lower Frederick, Lower Salford, New Hanover, Upper Frederick, Upper Pottsgrove and Upper Salford.

It was formerly represented by GOP Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, now a state senator.

Scheuren served on the Souderton Area School Board where she chaired the finance committee, and touted her 30 years of business experience in her campaign.

“I have always fought for the best interests of the people,” said Scheuren. “As a small business owner, I’ve created jobs and know the pressures of meeting payroll. As a manufacturer’s rep, I’ve worked every day to grow or save jobs for thousands of employees in factories and manufacturing plants across the country.”

She has worked to “control and cut costs, negotiate contracts, grow revenue, improve processes, invest in people, and deliver quality outcomes in manufactured goods and services, or the total life experience of a student’s education.”

“I’ve been hearing both sides of an issue for most of my adult life and making the tough decisions that are in the best interest of all stakeholders – whether (they are) are business owners, factory workers or the consumer of finished goods, or local tax-paying residents, parents, staff, and students,” she said. “For in these volatile and challenging times, the voters of the 147th need to know they elected a leader with the qualified experience to serve on day one and should feel confident knowing that I will always work to implement the district’s legislative priorities.”

As the legislative session gets underway, Scheuren said she hopes to promote jobs, technical education, voter ID, and reduce taxes and crime.

“We must continue to reduce taxes and burdensome regulations, along with waste, abuse, and fraud, for our state to thrive and be an economic leader,” she said. “Building that trust also includes acknowledging the wishes of more than 70 percent of voters across the country that support Voter ID to restore confidence in our electoral process. Pennsylvania voters deserve to see that question on the May primary ballot.

And, “there is nothing more fundamental than a free and safe society, yet with crime on the rise in our cities and suburbs, residents are finding themselves more at risk. I fully support the law enforcement community and the training, technological advancements, and funding necessary to keep our businesses, schools, and homes safe from violence,” said Scheuren.

Asked why she decided to run, Scheuren said, “I have always been passionate about politics and felt a calling to serve. Once I saw the widespread effects of our state and nation being shut down by COVID, it was clear that common-sense solutions were needed in many aspects of government.”

Scheuren and her husband, Dave Scheuren, live in Lower Salford, where he serves as a township supervisor. In their free time, they enjoy cheering for Penn State.

“With generations of Scheuren family members graduating from Penn State, we are a PSU football family with the tailgating RV to prove it,” Scheuren said. “I enjoy interior design and decorating throughout the year for the change of season. I relish, however, planning and hosting parties, events, community gatherings, and all functions that help to bring family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues together. Life is short and meant to be celebrated.”

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There is a group of people who are against the sale of the Towamencin sewer system.

They are promoting a complete change in our form of government, hoping they will be able to change how this decision was made.

While I understand that not everyone agrees with all decisions made by local government, residents should be aware of some of the negatives of Home Rule.

Second Class Townships, such as Towamencin, have limits on taxing set by Pennsylvania code. However, it is my understanding that home-rule municipalities are only subject to a few limitations on the rates of taxation imposed upon residents including earned income taxes. In Pennsylvania, the highest personal earned income tax rate municipalities have home rule charters. Home Rule also allows greater influence by private interest groups seeking to influence public policy.

Residents should also be aware of the law and the guidance put out by the Department of Community and Economic Development in 2020. If the referendum passes it would create a Government Study Commission. There would then have to be public hearings as well as multiple Commission meetings, the drafting of a new charter, and a complete report, followed by a two-month period of public review. This would be remarkably like a constitutional convention.

Completely changing our form of government is not the answer. If residents do not like the decisions made, they can vote for change by electing new supervisors.

Those of us who are running under “Towamencin Residents United Serving Towamencin” (TRUST) are committed to keeping Towamencin Township a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family, especially now during these uncertain times.

Douglas Kile, Connie Brown, Jeffrey K Baer, Richard Todd Fisher, Amy Tarlo, Michael E. Main, and Nancy J. Becker are running for the Government Study Commission under the Township Residents United Serving Towamencin (“TRUST”), to ensure all voices are heard and all issues addressed. We are not motivated by one political issue and will take an honest look at the charter to ensure that any changes made are best for the long-term well-being of Towamencin and all its residents.

When you vote on November 8, remember why you moved to Towamencin or continue to stay here. We have amazing open spaces, parks, farms, and wonderful housing communities.

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