Commuter Tax Ban Act

From Usgs

The Commuter Tax Ban Act was introduced into the Mid-Atlantic legislature in 2015 by Lieutenant Governor Steven Andrews' primarily to prevent Pittsburgh from enacting a commuter tax in order to meet its budgetary shortfall. It banned any commuter tax being imposed by local government within the Mid-Atlantic.

Andrews likened a commuter tax to taxation without representation, imposed on people who did not reside within an area and therefore had no say in its implementation. He was joined by Representatives from suburban and rural parts of the region. Representative Anthony Westfal (D-Irwin) argued "my constituents who work within the city and live in the suburbs are already taxed by their own municipal government. They shouldn't be paying twice".

The proposal was opposed by Minority Leader Teddy Williams who argued that, as it stood, the bill had no provision for lost revenue: "if we're telling local governments they can't impose tax(es) that they are currently relying on, then we ought to at least have some sort of plan in place". The bill saw biggest opposition in Representatives from Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, those came from cities that had relied on a commuter tax in the past to make up for budgetary short falls, but was broadly supported by those from urban areas of the Mid-Atlantic. Representative Rory McDonnah (D-Pittsburgh) described the sentiment in Pittsburgh, saying "Pittsburgh is facing insolvency because of this body's inability to pass substantive property tax reform for decades".

The bill was passed by the legislature 52 to 49 and was signed into law by Governor David Gamble.

Roll call vote

MID 150: Commuter Tax Ban Act
		Ayes	Nays	Pres	Total
	Democratic	5	34	0	39
	Republican	43	6	0	49
	Independents	4	9	0	13
Total		52	49	0	0

External links

• MID-150: Commuter Tax Ban Act