Fast tracking not just for TPP; raises its ugly head in PA

[Divernan]

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2015/02/01/Avoiding-taxes-A-fast-tracked-scheme-will-help-only-nonprofits/stories/201502010086
This Pittsburgh Post Gazette editorial opposes a state constitutional amendment being pushed by "non-profit" UPMC.

Avoiding taxes: A fast-tracked scheme will help only nonprofits (Headline)

A runaway train is rolling through Harrisburg, but it will crash and burn in cities and towns across Pennsylvania.
Hospitals and large nonprofits are pushing for a state constitutional amendment that could end attempts by local government to force them to make payments to help cover municipal services. That would leave the average residents and businesses that pay property taxes on the hook, as they are today, for more than their fair share of the cost of policing, firefighting and road maintenance.

The amendment would do this by taking away from the courts the authority to define what constitutes a tax-exempt charity and giving it to lawmakers who are susceptible to lobbying by deep-pocketed, albeit nonprofit, institutions.

Senate Bill 4 contains the proposal, which must be passed in two consecutive sessions of the Legislature to become part of the state constitution. It was OK’d once by the General Assembly and is on a fast track for second approval. If that happens soon, the plan will go before Pennsylvania voters this year, perhaps as early as the May primary, for possible final adoption — all without much public exposure or extensive debate.

Almost as a concession to the animosity rising against the Legislature’s hurry-up offense, the Senate Finance Committee has set a hearing for Wednesday on the bill. It comes, however, in the 11th hour of the amendment process — too late for a careful examination of this costly issue.

[msongs]

1. nobody or thing should be exempted from the tax paying game, especially religions nt

[Curmudgeoness]

2. I didn't realize that they could be forced to make payments now.

At least the way our local newspaper has always reported it, our nonprofit hospital "volunteered" to help the city cover expenses.

But the thing about this one is----it is a constitutional amendment, and that means that the voters have to approve it. So if this passes, and gets on the ballot, we have to make sure that people are aware of it. I am always surprised at how many times there are issues on the ballot that got zero publicity....no one even knows they are there until they get to the polls. And of course, they always have some feel-good name that is usually the opposite of what it really is. We can't let that happen with this one...we do have some control over this one. Not like most bills that are passed and all we can do is call before the vote to tell them our opinions, which they just ignore.

[blkmusclmachine]

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