10 Outdated Professions Taxed by Council Rock

By Kara Seymour

If you're a blacksmith, domestic servant, milkman, chambermaid or locomotive engineer, your wages are taxed under the Council Rock School District's occupation assessment tax.

Council Rock School Board is considering doing away with that tax and replacing it with an increase in the earned income tax. There will be a ballot question in November asking residents if they want to eliminate the occupation assessment tax and increase the earned income tax by 0.17.

Council Rock is the only district in Bucks County that still collects the occupation assessment tax, which is $40 to $320 per resident depending on their occupation.

Board members say the occupation assessment tax is outdated and a nuisance to collect. It requires residents to select from hundreds of occupations, many of which are outdated. 

On Friday, the district put a tax calculator on its website so residents could compare their tax situation under both scenarios.

Here's Patch's list of the top 10 outdated professions taxed under the district's occupation assessment tax.

1. Blacksmith

2. Breadman

3. Butler

4. Milkman

5. Domestic servant

6. Locomotive engineer

7. Chambermaid

8. Motion picture operator

9. Timekeeper

10. Telephone operator