HARRISBURG, Pa. – A bill that would end school property taxes in the state of Pennsylvania appears to have gained enough momentum to pass a key legislative hurdle.

State Sen. Dave Argall tells PennLive.com that his anti-property tax legislation – Senate Bill 76 – now has 26 co-sponsors, just enough for majority approval in the 50-member body.

However, SB 76 “still needs to make it through the Finance and Appropriations committees before it can go to a floor vote,” TimesHerald.com reports.

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“We believe we are closer than ever before to slaying the school district property tax beast,” Argall said Monday.

Getting the bill through the House of Representatives appears to be the biggest challenge. PennLive.com reports that a similar anti-property tax plan last year fell 11 votes shy of passage.

SB 76 supporters hope they’ve tweaked the latest version of the legislation just enough to garner approval from a sufficient number of House lawmakers, but that remains to be seen.

In exchange for killing off the school property taxes – which have reportedly increased 66 percent more than wages have over the last 20 years – lawmakers want to increase the state’s personal income tax (from 3.07 percent to 4.34 percent) and the state sales tax (from 6 percent to 7 percent).

In addition, SB 76 supporters want “to have the sales tax apply to more items but not food staples on the WIC food list,” PennLive.com reports.

If the bill becomes law, it would represent the fulfillment of a decades-long effort to kill off the property tax. Many Democrats and Republicans agree that spreading the K-12 funding burden to more people than just property owners is a matter of fairness.

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Still, public school apologists say the proposed changes could up end shrinking the amount of money available for K-12 education by a lot. They also argue that property taxes offer a more consistent funding stream than income or sales taxes.

Those should only be serious concerns if Pennsylvanians believe their public schools have been good stewards of their tax “investments” and don’t waste a single dollar. And no clear-thinking person should believe that.

The reality is that Pennsylvania’s public schools are dominated by some of the greediest, most self-centered teacher and school employee unions in the nation. These unions drain school budgets dry through various payouts and sweetheart deals, and often leave the students with fewer teachers, class offerings and extracurricular activities.

Maybe a smaller K-12 “pie” – one that’s produced by more taxpayers – will force the teacher and school employee unions to keep a check on their appetites.