Groups opposed to a plan to eliminate school property taxes are mobilizing in an effort to neutralize a looming threat.
The spokesman for the Republican Senator Majority Leader says some kind of response to property tax concerns is planned for this spring.
One plan would replace the property tax levied by school districts with higher sales and personal income taxes.
Sharon Ward, head of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said that would do more harm than good in the eyes of businesses, schools, and advocates for the poor.
"We know that proponents of the legislation are very serious about seeing it enacted as is the senate sponsor," she said, "and we wanted to make sure that there was an understanding about the depth of opposition to the bill."
The House shot down a plan to eliminate school property taxes statewide last fall.
Instead, it passed a plan to give school districts the option of reducing or replacing property taxes with other levies.
The sponsor of a property tax elimination bill in the Senate says such a plan has little support in his chamber.
