October 4
Under
the proposal Governor Edward G. Rendell detailed
this afternoon, each and every
person owning a home in would be eligible for
property tax relief. Good news for casino lovers in
that area.
The slots casino gaming approved
in 2004 would
create $1 billion for statewide property tax cuts
beginning in the year 2007. In Luzerne County,
homeowners would receive an average of $213 in
property tax relief under the proposal.
Teh Governor has asked the General Assembly to amend Act
72, the legislation that will apply property tax
relief, to remove language giving school boards the
power to choose if gaming earnings are utilized to
make
property taxes smaller in their district.
Rendell also
called a special session of the General Assembly,
beginning September 28, to focus
on providing tax relief for tens of thousands of
Pennsylvania homeowners.
Under the
proposal, school boards would also be permitted to
ask taxpayers to figure out if they want to
increase local income taxes to pay for additional
property tax cuts.
The Caucus
would have to raise the sales tax to 6.65 percent to
balance according to a recent analysis by the
Revenue Department. But Fajt said that raising
enough revenue is not the only issue with the
Commonwealth Caucus' plan.
This whole plan is also an effort
to reduce the tax paying burden to the tens of
thousands of Pennsyvanians that are living on fixed
incomes.
Rendell's gaming-based property tax cut
proposal is a better alternative, and urged the
Commonwealth Caucus and other legislators to support
the Governor's amendments to Act 72.
