For the second time in as many weeks Pennsylvania's G.O.P. Governor, Tom Corbett proposes a new tax using a label meant to disguise that tax as something other than a tax. Last week, it was the Marcellus shale gas drilling impact fee. This week, it's the education reform voucher payment. Either way, we taxpayers lose. The voucher payment program is touted as a way to allow parents of children in failing schools to seek a better education for their children, but funds used to pay for those vouchers will be deducted from the state's share of education payments made to school districts. To make up for that loss of revenue, school districts will be forced to raise their local school tax rate. In today's lagging economy, the people in this Commonwealth do not need another tax, whatever its fancy label.
Public education benefits everyone and all should shoulder responsibility for maintaining that system. Parents who are dissatisfied with the quality of their child's education should either work within their district to improve that quality or move to a different district. Increasing taxes so that parents can have the luxury of choosing what school their child will attend is not something taxpayers can afford. You'd think a Republican Governor would understand that. Apparently not!
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