In early February, as 800,000 Pennsylvanians were without power due to winter weather, over 5,000 out-of-state emergency responders came to their rescue to restore power lines and getting electricity flowing again. A voluntary program exists to share personnel and resources between utilities in different states for just such emergencies.
However, a problem was pointed out last week by former Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission member Wayne Gardner, in an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Unfortunately, there is a problem in Pennsylvania that recalls the old saying that no good deed ever goes unpunished: Our state requires out-of-state emergency responders and others who work here for a short period — even a single day — to file state income taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. returns if they earn as little as $33. Only residents of Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia are excepted.
Put this issue on a personal level: Imagine an emergency responder who has a choice of being sent to Pennsylvania where this tax burden would be imposed upon her or another state where out-of-state emergency responders are exempt from state and local income taxes. At a time when state officials should be extending a hardy “thank you,” Pennsylvania state officials are yelling “pay me!”
Fortunately, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., have teamed up to solve this problem. Their legislation, The Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act, is a joint Democratic and Republican effort to simplify the lives of workers who might spend a few days in other states as part of their employment. It would protect them from the cost and burden of complying with multiple state tax laws.
Pennsylvania is not alone in subjecting out-of-state visitors to tax withholdingWithholding is the income an employer takes out of an employee’s paycheck and remits to the federal, state, and/or local government. It is calculated based on the amount of income earned, the taxpayer’s filing status, the number of allowances claimed, and any additional amount of the employee requests. on their first day of travel:
More about the proposed federal bill here.
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