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HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry today commended Senate lawmakers for advancing legislation (S.B. 1063) that would bring needed efficiency to Pennsylvania's Earned Income Tax collection system.

"This legislation is a step in the right direction for local tax reform," said Gene Barr, PA Chamber vice president of government and public affairs. "Employers who remit the Earned Income Tax for their employees should remit the tax under the most efficient system possible. Their ability to do so, however, is severely limited because of the Commonwealth's existing complex and fragmented process."

Pennsylvania is unrivaled in the number of local EIT collectors and has more taxing jurisdictions than other states combined. Senate Bill 1063 would reduce the number of EIT collectors from 560 to 69.

Barr said for business, a key provision of S.B. 1063 is that employers would be able to remit taxes to a single collector in the county in which a company is headquartered.

For companies with multiple Pennsylvania locations, such as Allegheny County-based Eat n' Park Hospitality Group, which has operations in 35 Pennsylvania counties and must work with 155 separate tax collectors with varying forms and standards, the legislation would remove a considerable tax collection burden.

Barr said a consolidated EIT collection system would benefit residents and local municipalities as well. A more efficient system would ensure that revenue is more quickly returned to rightful taxing jurisdictions; and would ease the filing burden for employees whose Earned Income Tax is not withheld by their employers.

The PA Chamber has been working with the Department of Community and Economic Development and other groups for several years to improve the state's EIT collection system. The legislation is the result of 2004 DCED study that documented the problems, including lost revenue, that result from inefficiencies in the system.

"The Pennsylvania Chamber thanks Senator Jane Earll for sponsoring this legislation and all Senate lawmakers who voted for the legislation on final passage," Barr said. "A truly bipartisan and collective effort by numerous parties went into carefully crafting and generating support for this commonsense approach to local tax reform. It deserves the backing of House lawmakers."

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The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association, with its membership representing nearly 50 percent of the private workforce.