C3o—Lancaster Fannins, Saturday, February 9,1980
PFA member’s tax testimony asks review of alternatives
use taxes, and exemptions As an examnle the tax farmers under Act 319 This P ro P ert y The alter- will reduce the tax burden of
are a great concern of oar m- st £ y £ Ac? mal V S S T
dustry, he said. farmers paid approximately farmland to be assessed at a terms * .? Z’ nnalities of a nroperty tax
The tax he addressed is the seve n percent of their tax- rate other than market economic effectselasticdy, quahties “
subject of recent study and able in „ )mp to f inance om va i llP administrative and com- such as stability, local con
discussion by the Penn- spools, while non- farmers iot all farmers need to use phance C °f ’ We Isk uS^rSnS
sylvama Farmers Associa- paid less than two and a half Ace 319 because some of and p these factors when discuss
tion and our county member percent of their taxable in- them have current assess- the burden to mg a shift from property to
associations. come. ment rates that are lower , alternatives income taxation,” he said.
Farmers are paymg more These figures are close to than those offered under Act U 1 luc 3
than twice as much of our the Pennsylvania averages
taxable income than non- which indicate that farmers
farmers are paying to pay 6.94 percent of their tax
finance Pennsylvania able income compared to
schools, he said. 2.57 percent for the non-farm
In 1977 the Pennsylvania population.
Farmers’ Association and Property tax reform is a
the Pennsylvania Depart- priority concern of most
ment of Agriculture match- citizens and government of
ed funds to initiate a two- ficials. Reforming the pro
year study of alternatives to perty tax usually means one
the property tax for fmanc- of three things: improving
mg Pennsylvania’s school, administration of the cur
“ The research was con- rent property tax system;
ducted by Professor modifying the current
Theodore R. Alter of the system in some fashion; and
Department of Agricultural substituting, completely or
Economics and Rural partially, another tax source
Sociolgy, at Penn State. for the property tax
Property taxes vary in
each community and county,
but the study indicates that
in every county farmers are
paymg more of their mcome
toward financing schools
ERIE The squeeze on
farmers from ever increas
ing tax assessments and
burdens was challenged by
Nick Mobiha, Jr. last week
at a hearing of the Penn
sylvania Tax Commission.
Mobiha, was one of
several representatives of
various farm organizations
to testify. The hearings are
to decide the future of Penn
sylvania’s tax structure and
mvolved a variety of in
dustries.
Mobiha addressed the
study of property taxes for
support of education.
‘Land is the single largest
investment item in
agriculture. The total value
of farmland and buildings in
Pennsylvania has almost
doubled in the last five
years. From over six billion
dollars m 1974 to over eleven
billion dollars in value in
1979,” he said.
While our farmland values
have increased rapidly, due
mostly to inflation, we have
had to increase production
through expansion and
mechanization just to main
tain our mcome.
Farmers are now highly
dependent on fossil fuels to
feed our machinery and on
petroleum-based fertilizers
and pesticides to mcrease
our production. These costs
are skyrocketing and eating
up our profit margin at a
tune when we require more
capital investment to main
tain our income.
“Taxes affect our profits
as they do any business.
Unlike other businesses our
profits depend on a limited
harvest tune and market
tune and on totally unpredic
table factors such as
weather conditions and fuel
supply.
“Our interest in taxes is
not limited to one area. As
employers we are concerned
over unemployment com
pensation rates and
workmen’s compensation
rates. Corporation taxes, in
heritance, taxes, sales and
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Any modification of the
current system will involve
assessment rates. A
valuable tax legislative
benefit is available to
Slate ■
Zip
319. The legislative intent of
this Act was to relieve a tax
burden and provide for a use
value assessment. The use of
the Act is not yet attractive
to all of our fanners because
of the wide variance m
assessment rates across the
state.
“My testimony does not in
clude a Pennsylvania
Farmers’ Association policy
position on school property
taxes,” he said.
At our 1979 annual meeting
in November, our voting
delegates granted authority
to the PFA Board of Direc
tors to determine policy on
school taxes under
guidelines established in the
Penn State Tax Study report.
“We will have defimte
policy direction within three
months,” he predicted.
“Because local real estate
tax bases, revenues, and
assessments are so different
m each school district we
believe that alternatives to a
property tax will require
careful study,” he said.
“We ask that this Commis
sion consider the tax study
report submitted to you to
day. The report focuses on
six alternatives to the school
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