Bill No._______________
TITLE
Motion Expressing the Sense of Council of Allegheny County, urging the Pennsylvania General Assembly to increase the number of revenue options available to Allegheny County in order to equitably ensure that dedicated funding for mass transit within the County can be realized.
BODY
WHEREAS, Act 44 of 2007 explicitly authorizes Allegheny County to enact a tax on alcoholic beverages and/or a tax on rental vehicles within Allegheny County as a means of securing dedicated funding for the Port Authority of Allegheny County's mass transit services; and
WHEREAS, although these two options provide more flexibility in taxation than was previously available to Allegheny County, several alternative options were originally contained within Act 44; and
WHEREAS, the removal of these alternative revenue options has in effect placed the entire burden of providing dedicated funding on two specific businesses within Allegheny County; and
WHEREAS, during the course of Council's deliberations on the imposition of these two new taxes, it has become evident that alternative revenue options would permit the imposition of a lesser revenue burden on a greater cross section of the community; and
WHEREAS, it is the judgment of Council that the flexibility to implement a lesser revenue burden on a greater number of taxpayers is inherently desirable;
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED that the Council hereby urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to increase the number of revenue options available to Allegheny County within Act 44 of 2007 in order to equitably ensure that dedicated funding for mass transit within the County can be realized.