Pennsylvania may force workers to pay taxes to their employers

Source: Rawstory.com

A bill that landed on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s (R) desk this week would give companies that hire more than 250 new workers a gobsmacking tax incentive: 95 percent of those workers’ state income taxes would be paid to the employer, and not the state.

It’s a bizarre strategy meant to attract companies from other states, specifically designed to lure California-based software maker Oracle into Pennsylvania. It’s also, as Philadelphia City Paper put it, “lavish corporate welfare” writ large across state government.The bill, HB 2626, passed on October 17 with bipartisan support. Just 80 members of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, most of the Democrats, voted in opposition.

Employers that hope to take advantage of the incentive program must hire 250 or more new full time employees and provide health insurance for them, in addition to paying a wage that’s above the county average wherever they’re located. Once those conditions are met, the proposed law would allow companies to absorb as much as $5 million of their employees’ income taxes every year.

As state struggle with one another in an effort to lure companies with special tax rates and incentives, millions are given away every year to thousands of companies that otherwise earn more than enough to continue being profitable.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/24/pennsylvania-may-force-workers-to-pay-taxes-to-their-employers/

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