Pennsylvania's Unique Tax Environment
When someone says the word tax or any related form of the word, it makes people cringe. This cringe is for a good purpose. Almost everything we purchase is taxed somehow. Most of those people do not even understand all of the specific taxes that are being taken out of their checks. When comparing between different states, Pennsylvania has some unique features to its taxation system. To begin, it has a personal income tax, adopted in 1971, which is levied at a rate of 2.8%. Business taxes include a corporate net income tax of 9.99%, capital stock and franchise taxes, and taxes on public utilities, insurance premiums, and financial institutions (Braybrooks, et al., 2011). Pennsylvania's 6% sales and use tax exempts essential items like clothing, groceries, and medicines. Local sales taxes are limited to 1%. The state has an inheritance tax and has taken action to disconnect its estate tax from the federal tax exemption, which is scheduled to expire in 2007. Gift and death taxes account for a comparatively substantial part of state tax collections: 6.2% in 2001 and 3.44% in 2002. Other taxes include various license fees and stamp taxes. Most property taxes are collected by local government, which collects about 40% of all state and local revenues (Braybrooks, et al., 2011).
Another relatively unique feature of Pennsylvania is its exemption on taxation of all federal, military and in-state pensions as well as all Social Security benefits from income tax. Pennsylvania is also unique in that it exempts all retirement income, even IRA and 401(k) distributions. Furthermore, though many states impose state corporate income taxes at rates above the national average of 6.6%, Pennsylvania is one of the highest. Iowa, for example, imposes the highest corporate tax rate of 12%, followed by Pennsylvania's 9.99% rate and Minnesota's 9.8% rate. When added to the federal rate, these states tax their businesses at rates far in excess of all other states (CBO, 2011). When analyzing taxation, it is critical for any student or professional to fully understand the unique local and state regulations which can have significant impact on client's reporting needs and after-taxes income.
References
Braybrooks, M., Ruiz, J. And Accetta, E. 2011. State Government Tax Collections Summary Report: 2010. United States Census Bureau. Accessed: 13 Feb 2012. URL: http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/g10-stc.pdf
Congressional Budget Office. 2011. Options for Changing the Tax Treatment of Charitable Giving. Accessed: 13 Feb 2012. URL: http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12167/CharitableContributions.pdf
