"We have had a thunderous victory," Tredyffrin Republican committee chairman John C.T. Alexander said. The proposed personal income tax there, he said, "was a bad idea. We don't need to have an overlay of another tax."
Opposition came from many school boards, several taxpayer groups, and some Republican and Democratic organizations. They contended the new taxes would be too difficult and costly to collect, set renters against homeowners, and not provide more funding for schools. Though many retirees and some school board members favored the change, there were virtually no campaigns for passage.
The referendums, held in every Pennsylvania school district except Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton, were mandated by Act 1, the state property-tax-relief legislation passed last year. Voters were asked whether they wanted a new earned-income or personal-income tax that would be used to reduce property taxes; the type and amount of the tax was to be set by each school board.
In general, low-income homeowners and people working in Philadelphia, who were exempt from the tax, would benefit; renters and high-income taxpayers would pay more.
Many voters said they had not heard much about the referendums; some said they were learning about the tax for the first time at their polling places.
"I didn't know what it was, so I voted against it," said James Lewis, a retired Lower Merion homeowner.
West Chester resident Roberta Forwood, a homeowner, said she "hadn't heard much about it and don't know if I would benefit." She voted yes, she said, because "I'm hoping I will get some money back. I'm looking out for number one."
Some wage earners who said they would pay more with the new tax in place voted no.
