PILOT

PILOT = payment in lieu of taxes.  It's something tax exempt organizations offer to their host municipalities-- money for police and fire protection and other services.

I cannot stress this enough: THIS IS NOT JUST A SCRANTON ISSUE.

The great Paul Harvey used to say businesses don't pay taxes.  They just pass that along to the consumer.  PILOT rings a similar bell.

There's a move afoot, in many places, to get tax exempt organizations to provide more PILOT money.  Where does it come from?

Above is the University of Scranton's under construction science building.  This shot was taken along the tracks, behind the Radisson.

Can the University provide more PILOT money?  Probably.  Where do you draw the line?  Do you force the U to pay so much that it  has to raise tuition?  More tuition means less creature comfort money for students, less pizza and beer, and clothes at the mall.  So,  the little guy at the corner pizza shop gets hurt.  Mall stores make less money.  Workers get laid off.  Are you happy now?

There is no free lunch.

The University's purchase of several properties in its neighborhood, taking them off the tax rolls is another story for another time.

Religion is also an easy target.  Do you want to tell some homeless guy at the soup kitchen that we can't feed him today because expenses have gone up?  Cut social services to the people who need them most.    Then, that man has to rely on more government assistance.  How much are you saving?  Extreme?  Maybe.

An increase in PILOT money might give property owners a little bit of a break, and we all know they need one-- badly.

The bottom line is there is a finite supply of money.  There is only so much to go around, and PILOT money has to come from somewhere.  Pick the withdrawl pocket.  Pick the destination.  If you save it in one area, you'll pay more in another.

I have to note an excellent story in last week's Scranton Sunday Times.  It noted that General Dynamics, a private company, pays no taxes because the plant, above, is on federally owned land.

Nearly 350 people work at the Scranton plant.  Will the company cut payroll to increase the PILOT contribution?  I doubt it, but you never know.  Should General Dynamics kick in a decent amount?  Clearly.

Do you remember what happened when the luxury tax was increased.  It was meant to go after big income people, the ones who buy big cars and boats.  Sales of those things went down.  The people who MADE and SOLD luxury items got hurt, and they lost their jobs.  Satisfied?

The key here is not to further squeeze what we have.  It's to make the tax system fair.  There are too many ways out, too many ways to cheat the system.  If everyone pays what they're supposed to pay, it can be argued that we'd all pay less.  And, we have to stop penalizing people for saving and investing.

We've reached critical mass.  The current system cannot continue.