It's a staggering number to consider: 2,900 separate taxing jurisdictions within the state of Pennsylvania -- in York County alone, 16 school districts.

The Pennsylvania Economy League has described the state's system of levying -- and collecting -- local earned income taxes as "the most fragmented tax collection system in the country."

The cost of such an antiquated system is mind-boggling: an estimated $237 million uncollected each year by school districts and municipalities.

The system currently requires 560 tax collectors across the state to gather in more than $1.9 billion in estimated annual earned income tax revenue.

Why is the system so fragmented and clearly inefficient? Because reforming the system will require major legislative changes, something the General Assembly avoids on instinct.

But change is in the wind. Last Wednesday the state Senate on a vote of 41-8 passed Senate Bill 1063 and sent it to the state House Appropriations Committee.

If passed by the House and sent to the governor for signature, it could be a bonus for education and law enforcement, says the economy league, estimating that the $237 million realized would fund -- without raising taxes -- 3,000 more teachers and 3,000 more police officers on the streets of Pennsylvania municipalities.

The legislation would consolidate collection into 66 districts -- equal to the number of counties -- but not require county government to collect the earned income tax. It would take effect

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in 2012.

The need for such wide-ranging legislation -- and the reform it brings to an antiquated system of revenue collecting and the benefit to taxpayers now having to make up $237 million in revenue yearly -- should be a given.