It won’t be a shock to many of us that we taxpayers in this part of Pennsylvania are among the highest taxed in the state.

Residents in three of the five counties in the Times News region - Monroe, Northampton and Lehigh - are among the 10 highest-paying taxpayers in relation to income; Carbon and Schuylkill are not.

Among the notable geographic trends in the study conducted by the state Independent Fiscal Office, all counties in the top 10 (except Greene) are in the eastern region of the state. Many counties with the highest burdens border each other, such as Monroe, Pike and Northampton. All counties in the bottom 10 are in the central or western region of the state, several of which border each other.

Monroe County had the highest property tax burden in the state, with 5.7% of a household’s income going to pay taxes. That’s a full percentage point higher than the second highest, Pike County.

By comparison, Jefferson County residents paid 1.8% of their income on property taxes, the lowest rate among the state’s 67 counties.

Northampton County checked in at number five with 3.98% of income going toward taxes; Lehigh was 10th with 3.5%. Carbon placed 16th with 3.16% and Schuylkill was 35th at 2.65%. Nearby counties include Berks, fourth with 3.99%; Luzerne, 14th with 3.17%; and Lackawanna, 27th at 2.97%

I found this disclosure to be shocking: Philadelphia, which most of us consider to be a high-tax city/county, is not by statewide comparisons, coming in at the third lowest statewide. The study explains that this is because the city/county recorded the highest level of personal income while also having a relatively low reliance on school district property taxes compared to other counties.

The study included income data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Internal Revenue Service and property tax data from the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Community and Economic Development.

For all counties, the property tax burden reflects the Homestead Exemption, which reduced school district property taxes by $534 million in fiscal year 2019-20, the last year for which figures are available.

Pennsylvania residents paid $21.4 billion in property taxes statewide, which represented 2.9% of total income. This means that in a high-tax county such as Monroe, residents are paying nearly twice the statewide average.

In general, rural counties had the highest property tax burdens because those counties have relatively larger elderly populations and lower per capita income levels. For those counties, Social Security and savings income make up a larger share of total income.

When looking at these numbers, some legislators believe that some of the $7.3 billion the state received through the federal American Rescue Plan for COVID-19 relief should go for tax relief. According to the office of state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, $1 billion was used in the current year’s state budget and about $3.7 billion was earmarked for the General Fund but not specifically appropriated.

Admittedly, using any of that money for tax relief would be a one-time fix, but others say anything is better than nothing. Republicans, who control both houses of the General Assembly, want to keep the remainder of the money as a sort of rainy day fund in case the state falls on hard times.

While it is great to get a one-time tax rebate, a more reasonable solution is to solve the greater problem of tax inequities throughout the state.

Yes, I know this has been talked to death, and the political landscape has been littered with failed proposals, and more recent proposals are languishing in legislative committees. Therein lies the problem. Legislators have talked this problem to death for decades. When will a majority say it’s time to walk the talk?

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.