The proposal by the Jackson Township supervisors to join other municipalities that have eliminated their per capita taxes revives a question deserving further consideration.

The question: Should property owners be the only ones required to keep the municipality financially afloat?

People who are not Jackson property owners but who reside there receive the same municipal services as property owners, especially police protection. Thus, they should help pay for those services.

While it can be argued that the rent people pay includes money for their landlord’s property tax obligation, it can be argued that renters, as well as adult children living with their parents, should be required to make some direct financial contribution to their municipality’s well-being.

A tax obligation is a part of citizenship, and people should not shun that responsibility.

Likewise, a municipality should not eliminate that responsibility because the collection process is cumbersome.

For Jackson, and any other municipality, the challenge is to improve the collection system and the process for identifying new taxpayers. Some municipalities accomplish that through coordination of information collection, such as by comparing tax-collection data with updated municipal water or sanitary sewer service accounts.

Many municipalities err in not being persistent enough and not tough enough in the pursuit of individuals not paying the tax.

Some communities rely on the honor system, expecting those required to pay the tax to notify the tax office of their residence.

Some people might consider it human nature to avoid paying the levy unless confronted. Meanwhile, many municipalities are weak in issuing general public reminders of the tax obligation; therefore, there can be little wonderment over why some people are unaware of the tax obligation.

Jackson Supervisor Ron Lutz was one of those with the view last week that it was difficult for a tax collector to keep track of all the people who should be paying the per capita tax. But if a tax collector lacks the necessary persistence, that person should not hold that position.

But again, collection of such a tax requires coordination between the municipality, municipal agencies and the tax collector. It also isn’t too much to ask police to notify the borough office when, during their patrols, they notice people moving into rental — or even non-rental — properties.

Meanwhile, landlords must be community oriented in notifying the borough office and tax collector when tenants move in or out of their units. Over the long run, landlords and other property owners benefit when the rate of tax collection allows a municipality to avoid or postpone a property tax millage increase.

In Jackson’s case, the per capita tax generates only about $10,000 a year, and the council plans to increase the property tax to compensate for that money if the tax is repealed. But the important point is that people who have municipal services at hand, even if they don’t own property, should help pay for those services.

Before taking what could rightfully be called the easy way out, Jackson’s supervisors should rethink the issue while casting aside the free-ride mentality.

Township property owners should demand that rethinking before any vote is taken to approve that change.