Council Rock Will Ask Voters About Tax Shift

By Kara Seymour

Voters in the Council Rock School District will decide in November if they want to eliminate the occupation assessment tax and replace it with an increase in the earned income tax.

If voters approve the measure, the earned income tax will increase from 1 percent to 1.17 percent.  Municipalities and the district currently split the earned income tax. 

The Council Rock School Board voted on Thursday to put the question on the November ballot. The vote was taken after a public hearing on the issue.

The 0.17 increase in the school district’s portion of the earned income tax is based on comparison of 2009 levels of occupation and earned income taxes, explained Robert Reinhart, the district’s business administrator.

The occupation assessment tax, which is $40 to $320 per resident depending on their occupation, is outdated and a nuisance to collect, board member Bill Foster said. Council Rock is the only school district in Bucks County that has still has an occupation assessment tax, explained Foster, a member of the district’s Finance Committee.

Residents had mixed reviews of the proposal. 

Newtown Township resident and member of the township’s Board of Supervisors Rob Ciervo said the district should eliminate the occupation assessment tax but should cut spending instead of increasing the earned income tax rate.

Ciervo said the occupation assessment tax is a set amount that a resident pays each year. Replacing that with a percentage of income is a effectively a tax increase, he said, because “income grows.”

“We’re replacing something that has been essentially flat with an income tax that is going to grow,” he said. 

Other residents said they believed the occupation assessment tax was antiquated and unfair. “If there’s going to be a tax, it should be equitable and it should be fair,” said Ross Miller.  “Do we want to be taxed the way people were taxed in the 17th century or the way people are taxed in the 21st century?” 

Foster said collecting the occupation tax is costly, inefficient, confusing and unfair. He said the voters should decide in November the way in which they would prefer to be taxed.

Council Rock has put a tax calculator on its website so residents can compare their tax situation under both scenarios.  

The average Council Rock taxpayer currently receives three tax bills—real estate, per capita and occupation assessment—resulting in a $6.15 collector fee per residence. Plus, each resident must file their earned income taxes through Keystone Collections Group.