L.P. likely to hire new tax bureau

Local officials are trying to make sure taxes deducted from workers’ paychecks get to the right place at the right time at the lowest cost.

By Bill Bostic

Lower Paxton Township supervisors huddled Tuesday afternoon at the township’s Municipal Center with officials from Central Dauphin School District and other municipalities served by the district to discuss earned income tax collection.

The current tax bureau, Capital Tax Collection Bureau, has been in hot water for about two years for allegedly providing shoddy service and not fully responding to requests to validate its work. Capital Tax is a non-profit agency that serves 74 local governments and school districts in the Harrisburg region.

The meeting was a rambling conversation with participants rehashing the pros and cons of working with Capital Tax, which has collected earned income taxes since 2001 when it merged with Central Dauphin Earned Income Tax Office. Several officials expressed no confidence in the way Capital Tax is being operated, interjecting the phrase “at the end of the day” numerous times while making various and sundry points about the bureau.

CD informally took a leadership role in the situation when the school board recently voted to leave Capital Tax at the end of the year.

Ideally, CD and the municipalities would use the same tax collection service to reduce the number of tax-dollar transfers between bureaus, but it appears unlikely that will happen.

Paxtang, Pennbrook and West Hanover Township have voted to stay with Capital Tax, while Lower Paxton, Swatara and Middle Paxton townships have not yet voted on the issue. Municipalities need to inform Capital Tax by June 30 if they want to drop its services at the end of this year.

CD officials expressed a willingness to work with the municipalities in seeking proposals from other tax collection services. Officials for Lower Paxton and Swatara townships indicated that they are moving in a direction to work with the school district in the search process.

Lower Paxton Township Supervisor David Blain (pictured) said Central Tax Bureau of PA and Berkheimer Tax Administrator, two for-profit operations, appear to have lower fees and superior operations than Capital Tax.

Blain, who has been the point person for the township in dealings with Capital Tax, urged officials who are planning to stick with Capital Tax to investigate other tax collecion services.

Capital Tax lacks the technology to efficiently do the job over the long haul, he said.

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