Jul 23 2008
Pittsburgh Drink Tax Redux
There’s a movement afoot to lower or even abolish the Pittsburgh drink and car rental tax. Chief Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato has stepped up to say that if the drink tax goes, county property taxes could increase by up to 20%.
But a 20% increase in property taxes would collect around $40 million, which is $8 milion more than what is earmarked for the Port Authority through matching funds by the state.
According to the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (the region’s government watchdog group), the $40 million is what the tax levies have brought in so far.
In addition to all this, the county money collected from the drink tax has not yet been released to the Port Authority. It’s release is pending, based on agreement to concessions by the Port Authority union.
However, Act 44 which authorized the levying of these taxes does not authorize the money to be withheld based on agreement to concessions by the union.
Meanwhile, the state has already sent its share of the money.
Something obviously smells fishy.
But quite often that seems to be the way it goes when government gets it’s hands on large sums of money.
The plot thickens …
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