Heard in the Halls is a regular column at Empowered Municipality which provides insight, commentary and opinions from "the halls" of the Capitol in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania Legislature has returned from its winter break and within the first week of the New Year it finally passed the last piece of the state budget.
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Now let’s not forget that the first Tuesday of February marks the Governor’s budget address for the up-coming fiscal year, which by law begins July 1, 2010. With that said, the Governor has proposed reducing the state sales tax from its current 6% to 4%, but expanding goods and services which are not covered.
Items to be taxed are:
- Accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services
- Administrative services
- Advertising, public relations & related services
- Air transportation and airline catering
- Amusement & recreation industries
- Architectural, engineering, & related services
- Basic television
- Candy and gum
- Caskets and burial vaults
- Catalogs and direct mail advertising
- Coal
- Coin-operated food and beverage vending machines
- Construction, repair, equipment and maintenance of commercial vehicles
- Construction of memorials
- Consulting (scientific, environmental, & technical)
- Custom programming, design & data processing
- Dry-cleaning and laundry services
- Electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning service fees
- Financial institutions fees
- Firewood
- Fish feed
- Flags
- Funeral parlors, crematories and death care services
- Gratuities
- Helicopters
- Horses sold to out-of-state purchasers
- Information services
- Investment metal bullion and investment coins
- Legal
- Liquor or malt beverage purchased from retail dispenser
- Magazines
- Museums, historical sites, zoos, and for-profit parks
- Newspapers
- Non-prescription drugs
- Other transportation
- Parking lots and garages
- Personal care services
- Personal hygiene products
- Rail transportation equipment
- Recreational parks, camps and campgrounds
- Rental of films for commercial exhibition
- Residential electric service
- Residential oil and gas fuel
- Residential telephone
- School buses
- Scientific research and development services
- Services to buildings and dwellings
- Specialized design
- Spectator sports admissions (excludes schools)
- Stair lift devices
- Textbooks
- Tourist promotion agencies
- Transit and ground transportation
- Trout
- Truck transportation
- Uniform Commercial Code filing fees
- Veterinary fees
- Warehouse storage
- Waste management and remediation services
- Water and sewage services
- Wrapping and packing supplies
Well, if there is any constant its death and taxes in which funeral services, vaults, caskets and cremation services would be taxed under the Governors proposal. Government Affairs specialists have been successful in keeping these goods and services from being taxed and our great service to the general assembly and the public would be taxed as well. I wonder who we are going to hire to stop this.
Local governments have not weighed in on the sales tax proposal just yet but let’s be clear that local government will not be able to keep cost in check with this proposal. Consultant fees, engineering fees as well as the cost incurred by Solicitor would be taxed. The lowering of the sales tax would be largest tax increase in recent memory and at the same time hinder business growth at a time when so many are struggling to keep their business operating.
Next weeks topic will be Transportation Funding
Pearre Dean, President
Dean Solutions Group/ Government Relations
Harrisburg, PA
717-557-1300
pdean@deansolutionsgroup.com
Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Empowered Municipality.
