As community members vote for local government positions tomorrow, they also have the choice of eliminating the Occupational Assessment Tax.
Recently, the state granted local municipalities the power to enable a new tax, said Student Party mayoral candidate Justin Leto.
The option is a referendum question on the ballot in which constituents can eliminate the OAT and in its place could be an earned income tax, Leto said. The earned income tax is a tax based on income, not a person's job title like the OAT, he said.
With the OAT, under the direction of state legislature, the county assessor's office places a value on all occupations. A list of occupations, adopted in 1968, is out-dated because the list has not been updated since then.
"As a matter of fairness, I think it's good," Leto said. "We're not talking about a significant amount. It's definitely good. Vote yes to eliminate (the OAT)."
Leto said he agrees with applying the tax to working college students because it is not a large amount of money and it helps give students more pull when lobbying for a cause.
"I think it's good that students carry some of the tax burden," Leto said. "We carry less of a burden. When we come to the government to try to change something, they usually say 'what do you do? What do you pay?' It makes it easy to ignore students."
Other community members agree with dropping the occupational assessment tax and applying a new one that is applied to all occupations.
"It's a good idea. The OAT is not fairly enforced," said State College Borough Council member Elizabeth Goreham, who is running for reelection on tomorrow's ballot. "It levies a specific tax on a specific occupation."
The earned income tax is based on earned income, therefore not laying all of the weight on specific occupations, Goreham said.
"We need a fair tax and the OAT is not fair," Goreham said. "Because of privacy laws, the county is unable to get information on who pays taxes. Because of this, people can escape paying the tax."
Taxes are needed to support local schools, Goreham said.
Some students are not happy with the possibility of a new earned income tax for fear that it is discriminatory against students.
"I just don't think they thought this tax through," said Dorothy Vanette (graduate-curriculum and instruction). "I don't think the government should use students as a tax base."
If the OAT needs to be replaced, a fair tax is needed, Vannette said. She also added she thinks an earned income tax targets full-time college students who already do not make much money. Vanette said she also thinks Penn State students have not been informed enough about the new tax that is being considered.
"Nobody ever questions anything," Vanette said. "People here don't live in the rest of the world. We need to tell the whole picture.
"I tell students all over, if you live here for four years, you're going to have to play by the rules for four years -- you might as well vote," Vanette said.
