On Tax Day, Tartaglione Decries Corbett Policy

HARRISBURG, April 15, 2013 – With the deadline for filing tax returns looming, state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione decried the Corbett administration’s strategy of relief for large corporations along with increased scrutiny for individuals.

 “When the administration talks about tax relief, they’re talking about big business,” Tartaglione said. “Over the past two years individuals have seen a crack down on sales taxes for online purchases, but there has been no effort to investigate corporate tax shell games.  Individuals are paying more in school and municipal taxes to fund business tax breaks.  That’s not the kind of tax reform people are looking for.”

Tartaglione said two events leading up to today’s tax deadline should give individuals cause for concern.  In a published report today, a Department of Revenue spokesperson said state tax officials can get information about individuals’ “purchase behavior” to enforce sales tax obligations.

“The idea that the department would gather information on consumer purchases while it hasn’t taken action against any companies over the use of Delaware subsidiaries is disturbing,” she said. “Other states have sued and won. Maryland collected nearly $300 million, but Pennsylvania would rather look at its citizens ‘purchasing behavior.’”

Last week, Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser testified before the House Finance Committee on the details of Gov. Corbett’s tax-reform plan, a plan geared entirely toward cutting business taxes.

“We’ve already cut $800 billion from corporate tax liability and our job creation numbers are in the tank.  This hyper-focus on greasing the wheels of industry and getting no jobs in return is terrible public policy,” Tartaglione said.  “Tax reform should include closing loopholes and providing adequate school funding to prevent higher local taxes.”

            

Tartaglione Questions Administration’s Tax Fairness

HARRISBURG, Feb. 21, 2011 – Sen. Christine Tartaglione today questioned Pennsylvania’s revenue secretary over why corporate tax loopholes aren’t drawing the same attention as consumers who make purchases on line.

“The governor’s going after getting the Internet loophole closed, which affects individual taxpayers, yet he’s not willing to go after a corporate loophole which affects big business and that’s very sad,” Tartaglione told Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser.

In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee today, Meuser outlined his department’s plans to force Pennsylvania taxpayers to report Internet purchases from all of 2011 and remit unpaid sales or use tax before the April tax deadline.  Under the plan, taxpayers will be required to remember Internet purchases from 2011 and remit the six percent use tax.

But nearly eight years after Pennsylvania’s Business Tax Reform Commission recommended closing the Delaware loophole for corporate income taxes,  and nine months after Tartaglione wrote to Meuser about the growing number of Pennsylvana gas drillers with Delaware subsidiaries, the secretary could not detail action taken to enforce tax laws on businesses.

Despite testifying that “companies go way out of their way to avoid paying our tax level,” Meuser said “solutions are being evaluated.”

“Why don’t we just close the Delaware loophole?” Tartaglione asked.
“That discussion certainly has been going on for a while,” the secretary replied. “We’re very focused on it. We’ll see what comes along.”

Tartaglione said the imbalance in tax enforcement is troubling.

“It’s difficult to imagine what is being evaluated,” Tartaglione said. “We have an extensive tax commission report nearly eight years old, and 23 states have already adopted combined reporting to close the Delaware loophole.   If the administration would apply the same level of enforcement to corporations as it is to consumers, we could restore hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts.”

Tartaglione is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 679, which would require “combined reporting” for businesses in Pennsylvania to close the “Delaware Loophole.”

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