A bipartisan effort to simplify the appeals process for state tax disputes is welcome news.

“Far too many Pennsylvania taxpayers have found themselves stuck in an unforgiving, bureaucratic tax appeal process — and it’s time for us to give them a way out,” state Treasurer Stacy Garrity told a reporter for Center Square, published in last Tuesday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette. “Some of the current rules are inflexible for no good reason.”

Garrity noted that the inflexible and overly elaborate process currently used disadvantages smaller and more frequently locally owned businesses, who don’t have the resources or scale to justify investing in the resources to facilitate lengthy disputes over tax bills.

It’s no secret that our tax system — particularly at the federal level but also too often at the state level — is cumbersome and needlessly complicated. We continue to hope tax reform can make the obligations of families and businesses clearer and less time-consuming.

Part of the problem, of course, is that both our federal government and our state government spend too much money. Reducing the size and scope of government spending is also an integral part of correcting the course for both Pennsylvania and the United States.

But until our lawmakers prioritize any serious effort at simplifying tax codes and at getting runaway spending finally under control, simplifying the appeals process remains a step in the right direction. We are happy to see public servants from both parties taking that step.

— Williamsport Sun-Gazette