Pennsylvania "You" Lost!!!

Congratulations citizens of Pennsylvania. You lost your last big chance for an honest politician in Harrisburg. Sam Rohrer was the one hope this Commonwealth had left. Sam has never accepted one dollar from any special interest group. He owes no one! Do you think that either of the November candidates can make that claim? Good luck with that one! Pennsylvania is headed for insolvency and no one seems to care.

Are you aware that many of the people contacted by phone on Tuesday were not even aware that it was election day? This is like sheep being led to the slaughter without a wimper. The apathy and disinterest of the citizens of Pennsylvania is horrifying. And what is even more horrifying is that this mentality is evident across the Nation. That is exactly how we got into the mess we are in!

What will it take for people to understand exactly where our State and this great Nation are headed. Government controls health, education and welfare. Does that not sound familiar. Maybe a word like “socialism”?

Main Entry: so·cial·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\
Function: noun
Date: 1837
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

I don’t want it and it is being force fed to all of us!

Unfortunately this is all being fed to us under the pretext of “change”. We have always been “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. We did not and do not need change....we need to fix the things that are bent or broken. “Fix” not try to change the entire country and our constitution! One day, in the not too distant future, people are going to look around and wonder “how did we ever get to this”? And guess what....when you finally recognize all of this for what it is....BAMMMMMM....you are going to be too late to change it back! You will live to see the day when you long for “the way things were”! Think about the future that you are creating for your children and grandchildren. Do you want them to live in a society where there is no free enterprise? Where the government controls absolutely everything! You had best answer that question now before it is too late!

I don’t know about you but that “hopey-changey” thing is not working for me! Economy is still poor, job loss is still climbing, and mortgage/housing is still a mess!!!! What is happening in this Country scares me to death!

Primary Election.....There Is Still Hope!

Primary Election Day...May 18th...could be a wonderful beginning or the beginning of the end for those of us living here in Pennsylvania. I start here to familiarize you with the "primary election" process that almost universally places "big machine" and "party backed politicians" in front of voters and tells them these are their menu choices. The "main line media" jumps on these "party selections", also endorses them, and buries mention of those considered "also rans" under a mountain of coverage for the "chosen one's" wonderful accomplishments. And of course, being the political followers (sheep) that we have all become, we assume that our party and our main-line media organizations have wisely chosen the right candidate for us and we go skipping to the polls to vote for them.

Now this seems nice and orderly and keeps the voting process simple and uncomplicated and does not allow for too much clutter in the minds of the mere voters. The problem is that we do not, and never will, see what goes on behind the scenes to bring a candidate to party endorsement. The deals that get made to get support from economically, socially and politically powerful special interest groups virtually guarantees "quid pro quo" behavior on the candidates part if elected. Then, when the hand-picked chosen one's and their hand-picked government organizations ultimately have to pay the piper we get the chance to start complaining yet again. Phrases like "just another politics as usual", "they are not representing my views at all", "we have to vote these people out come next election", then the confidence we should have that those who govern are doing the right thing by us and for us erodes just a little bit more.

I need to speak to you about a candidate in the race for Governor of Pennsylvania. The first thing you need to know is his name. SAM ROHRER, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE! Time is short for Sam and for all of us because he did not become the endorsed candidate by the State Republican Organization. He has had very little coverage by the main-line media and has been running a purely "grassroots" campaign. Please go to SamRohrer.org to find out all you can about Sam. I will tell you this much. Sam is honest! He has never taken a dollar from any special interest group. If Sam wins this primary it will be on his own money and the support of those who believe in him. So therefore, there will be no paybacks when he takes his oath of office and he will truly be working for "We The People".

Sam Rohrer is fiscally and socially conservative. Here are just a few of the things that Sam is passionate about:

. Provide PA with a fiscally responsible government
. End and Replace School Property Tax
. Expand School Choice
. Cut Taxes for Job Creators
. Defend Private Property Rights
. End Compulsory Union Membership
. Reduce Taxes and Regulations for Job Creators
.100% Pro-Life
. 100% 2nd Amendment Rights

Please, please get out and vote on May 18th. There is still hope! A vote for Sam Rohrer is a vote for our future!

Helen

Scam or Slam or Both

Yes, ACT I is a disaster. The tax shift to EIT or PIT, if approved by voters, is going to cost the average homeowner even more in property tax than they already pay. This piece of legislation is an embarrassment and a total failure.

People must realize that even if they vote down an EIT or PIT, our illustrious govenment officials in Harrisburg have left an "open door" for school districts to continue to increase taxes.

Districts can raise taxes in accordance with whatever their "inflation index" is for the year (for 2007/2008 the index ranges between 3.4% and 5.5%). That is an automatic tax increase!

According to Act 1 Backend Referendum the school disrict can then go to the Department of Education for exceptions. Last year our district not only got their exceptions approved by PDE, they actually got more than they requested. So you see, the districts are not real concerned about whether or not the voters accept an increase in EIT or PIT. They already know they will get whatever they need through backend referendum.

ACT I expands the backend referendums orginially set forth in Act 72 (hailed by all as a total disaster) for special education, health care costs and pension obligations. These items alone cause some of the biggest tax hikes that we have seen. Furthermore, the backend referendum for school construction is modified to provide an exception for school construction indebtedness incurred before the effective date of ACT I. Explains why so many of our school districts scrambled to get new school construction approved last year. No surprise there!

When given the opportunity to tighten the "back-end" referendum provisions that existed under Act 72 of 2004 (the previous law that was to distribute the gambling tax revenues), the legislature instead broadened the exemptions and enabled school districts with the power to circumvent voter referendum and continue to increase spending without hindrance.
Ed Rendell, along with all legislators in Harrisburg, should be ashamed.

This is one of the biggest scams/slams that has come down the road in quite a while.

nopropertytaxes@yahoo.com

ACT I Disaster

Groups try blocking tax shift

By ALISON HAWKESBucks County Courier Times

HARRISBURG — Upset with Harrisburg's solution to property tax relief, taxpayer groups are springing into action in an effort to defeat a proposed swap to income taxes to feed school district budgets.

A coalition of 22 groups is getting ready to send out the word to voters that the tax shifts they will vote on in May will do little to ease their tax bleed and might actually hurt them worse in the long run under the current plan.

“Vote no and make them go back to work in Harrisburg,” said Joe Gable, chairman of the Central Bucks Taxpayer Association. “That's our message.”
Gable said he and others are planning media outreach, talk show appearances and even a new blog at bucksdailybuzz.com.

The response from taxpayer groups is an early sign that Act 1, passed in June as the Taxpayer Relief Act, might not go over well in its first test with the public this spring, and if not could become the latest in a series of blundered property tax plans out of Harrisburg.
Since its inception, the tax plan was roundly criticized as being too modest and passing the buck on difficult tax issues to the locals.

As the process unfolds at the school district level, the fissures in the plan are becoming more apparent to those on the front lines of the local tax relief issue. More than a dozen citizen tax study commissions, charged with the task of coming up with the type and level of income tax shift best suited to their districts' taxpayers, are throwing up their hands and saying doing nothing is better.

No recommendation means their school boards must decide what to propose for their May ballots.

Dee John, chairwoman of Uniontown Area School District's local tax study commission, said her commission refused to make a recommendation because no option seemed palatable. A 0.4 percent increase in earned income taxes seemed too high for workers in her district to bear and any household earning more than $46,500 would be paying higher taxes overall, she said. A hike in sales taxes would be fairer, she said.

“The Legislature let us down,” said John, a Realtor. “Why are they asking the school districts to do this? Why do we vote these people in office? I don't get it, do your job.”

Neshaminy School District's tax study commission had a similar response. The break-even point there would be $55,000, below the district's median household income.

“It's a tax increase and this has been sold by the Rendell administration as a tax shifting,” said Richard Sypek, a Neshaminy commission member and retiree. “I think this Act 1 is a very bad piece of legislation.”

The property tax plan, passed after six months of grueling debate, was essentially an expansion of the earlier Act 72. It drives out $1 billion in gambling proceeds to taxpayers in the form of “free” tax relief, puts some controls on school district budget increases and expands senior tax relief by enlarging the Property Tax and Rent Rebate program.

For property tax relief beyond that, voters must decide district by district whether to switch over to higher income taxes, in some districts by as much as an additional 1 percent of their salaries. Existing income taxes at the local level would remain.

Some lawmakers are picking up on the public's roasting of the new tax plan.
Rep. Dave Steil, R-31, whose Pennsbury School District tax commission made a recommendation but unhappily so, said he senses the disapproval and even expected it. But giving voters the chance to have a say is one step in the longer process of finding a solution to the property tax debate, he said.

“I think our responsibility is to ask the voters; ask the people who pay the taxes,” he said. “The next step is we have to move to a statewide tax. That's more onerous to people in my district because we will still have to raise a tax and we will have to send it somewhere else.”

But taxpayer groups believe Harrisburg missed an opportunity to pass deeper relief when there was momentum last year to do so. Many are throwing their weight behind a plan called “Plan for Pennsylvania's Future” to eliminate property taxes altogether through a combination of a broader, lowered sales tax, an income tax hike and an increase in realty transfer taxes. The idea is to spread the tax pain as evenly as possible across all age and demographic groups.

“We're trying to send a message to the Legislature that this is not adequate. This is not what we want,” said David Baldinger of Reading, who leads the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition. “They seem to have trouble understanding the word "elimination.' ”

With taxpayer groups sounding a loud “no” against the May referenda and school districts taking a publicly neutral stance, there might be few standing to defend the measure to voters.
Rep. Chris Sainato, a Lawrence County Democrat, said he won't sound a bugle for it, even though he voted for the plan.

“Every school district is different. I'm not going to say you should do it or not,” said Sainato. “It's going to be up to local groups, if there are any local groups who support it.”

In reacting to public disappointment last year, Gov. Ed Rendell and lawmakers promised to revisit the issue with a second, deeper layer of property tax relief. But it's difficult to say when that might occur.

Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Republican Leader Sam Smith, said the Democrats' agenda is pretty full right now with a new healthcare initiative and transportation funding.
“It's going to be about priorities,” he said.

Steil's district includes Lower Makefield, Newtown, Newtown Township, Yardley and District 2 of Upper Makefield.

nopropertytaxes@yahoo.com

Read This and Weep

Williamsport Sun-Gazette
Sunday, August 20, 2006

Memorial Day and Independence Day are two days that are notorious in this country for honoring our freedom, and paying tribute to our military men and women, for the ultimate sacrifices, which they have made to preserve this freedom over the past 230 years.

Channel 22 News reported the death of the second most decorated World War II Veteran, who lived in Stroudsburg. He was second only to Audey Murphy.

This hero passed away while his home was being placed on the auction block to be sold in a sheriff sale because he got behind on his taxes and bills. For those in a position of authority, have they not the awareness of right and wrong with a compulsion to do right? It is tragic and unforgiving when degrading or humbling any living war veteran. What has happened to the conscience of the average America, who professes to be so righteous and claims to be sincere, while the likes of them allow such a disservice to be instilled upon a war hero as he approached the end of his life.

This war hero was why so many Americans without a conscience are living a life of freedom, which is questionable whether they’re deserving of it or not.

Weldon C. Cohick Jr.
Linden

FROM BOB LOGUE:

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ALL THE COWARDLY SHEEPLE YOU KNOW:

FOR FOUR YEARS STOP VOLUNTEERS HAVE TRIED TO GET THE PUBLIC INTERESTED IN PROTECTING HOMES FROM BEING STOLEN BY VULTURES AIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT. THE SITUATION LIKE THE ONE DESCRIBED IN THE SUN GAZETTE ARTICLE ABOVE IS EXACTLY WHAT WE HAVE BEEN SCREAMING ABOUT. IT IS A DISGRACE THAT VETERANS--INCLUDING WAR HEROES FROM ALL WARS-- AND GOOD CITIZENS IN GENERAL HAVE BEEN LOSING THEIR HOMES BY THE THOUSANDS EVERY YEAR TO THIS CORRUPT PROPERTY TAX SYSTEM. THIS IS THE SYSTEM THAT GOVERNOR ED RENDELL, CANDIDATE LYNN SWANN AND MANY OF YOUR LEGISLATORS DEFEND AND WANT TO PRESERVE. .

MOST OF THE SHEEPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA ARE APPARENTLY TOO LAZY OR APATHETIC TO GET INVOLVED IN THE FIGHT. THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE DONE LITTLE OR NOTHING TO HELP ABOLISH PROPERTY TAXES ON PRIMARY RESIDENCES SHOULD BE ASHAMED. SLEEP COMFORTABLY IN YOUR NICE COZY HOME THAT THIS VETERAN AND MANY OTHERS FOUGHT TO PRESERVE. YOU DON'T DESERVE THE SACRIFICE OF THIS SECOND MOST DECORATED HERO FROM WORLD WAR II...AND THE SACRIFICE OF MANY THOUSANDS MORE WHO HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED OR WERE WOUNDED TO PRESERVE YOUR FREEDOM AND PROTECT YOUR HOME. NOW IN THEIR ADVANCED YEARS, THEY NEED OUR PENNSYLVANIANS TO FIGHT FOR THEM SO THEY CAN KEEP THEIR HOMES. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HELP ABOLISH PROPERTY TAXES ON PRIMARY RESIDENCES THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE INDIGNITY HEAPED ON THIS WAR HERO? DID HE DESERVE TO LEAVE THIS EARTH KNOWING THAT HE WAS IN THE PROCESS OF LOSING HIS HOME? IMAGINE HOW ABANDONED AND UNAPPRECIATED HE MUST HAVE FELT. DID HE DESERVE THIS EMBARASSMENT? COULD THE STRAIN OF LOSING HIS HOME HAVE ADVANCED HIS DEATH? GO BACK TO YOUR FOOTBALL GAME....SOAP OPERA OR OTHER 'VITAL' INTERESTS. THIS HERO WAS NOT RELATED TO YOU...SO WHY SHOULD YOU GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?

BOB LOGUE, STOP PRIMARY RESIDENCE PROTECTION PLAN.

For information on how you can help contact stoptax@alltel.net
For information concerning the PA Coalition of Taxpayer Associations PCTA go to www.dbta.org

"Rear End" Referendums

'Back-end referendums' won’t help taxpayers. The recent enactment of Special Session Act 1 of 2006, the so-called "Pennsylvania Taxpayer Relief Act," came as a disappointment to taxpayers throughout the Commonwealth who are fed up with increasing school property taxes.

When given the opportunity to tighten the "back-end" referendum provisions that existed under Act 72 of 2004 (the previous law that was to distribute the gambling tax revenues), the legislature instead broadened the exemptions and enabled school districts with the power to circumvent voter referendum and continue to increase spending without hindrance.

Like Act 72, this law represents a weak attempt at curbing school spending through voter referendum. Certain proposed property tax increases that exceed a district’s so called "inflation index," which ranged from 3.9 to 6.5 percent in 2006, would have to be approved by voters. While this sounds like an excellent solution, Act 72 gave taxpayers in only one of the 111 participating school districts the ability to vote on proposed tax increases.

The façade of voter control of school property tax increases is two-fold. First, the "inflation index" allows many districts to increase property tax rates substantially without voter consent. The "inflation index" varies by district and gives school boards generous leeway to increase spending well above traditional measures of inflation, without facing referendum.

Second, Act 72 provided ten spending exceptions for which school districts could avoid voter referendum. These loopholes allowed many tax increases to occur without voter input. In fact, 26 of the 111 school districts that opted into Act 72 submitted budgets greater than the "inflation index," but only one district was required to hold a voter referendum, as all the others were exempted.

These flaws remain in the new legislation. A lengthy list of loopholes and a hefty inflation index will allow districts to avoid the ballot box and leave voters helpless in the face of major spending and tax increases. Throughout the Commonwealth, property taxes will continue to rise and further burden taxpayers.

In the State College Area School District, the new mandate started a spending race. The school board’s effort to pass a $102 million construction plan in advance of the implementation of referendum could lead to bloated budgets for years to come. Why? Because paying off debt that was incurred before the implementation of Act 1 is exempted when future tax increases are considered.

The expensive proposal has created a massive public outcry, but the ultimate decision is in the hands of State College’s nine-member school board, not the taxpayers. If the building plan faced voter referendum, its future would be uncertain.

Statewide, it appears that tax increases over the next three years will far exceed any expected relief in 2008 or 2009. A 5 percent annual increase in property tax rates — the average cap for school districts in 2006 — represents $1.5 billion in increased revenue from 2005-06 to 2008-09.

Many lawmakers from both parties — whether they voted for or against the bill — acknowledge that Act 1 was a compromise, and that they desired something more substantial. Yet taxpayers and homeowners will continue to suffer until lawmakers give them real control over tax increases.

Pennsylvania’s school boards exercise far more taxation power than their counterparts in other states. According to the Education Commission of the States, Pennsylvania is the only state that places no practical limits on the taxing and spending power of school boards. Yet Pennsylvania’s only limit on local school boards is the new token referendum, which most school boards will be able to avoid even while hiking property taxes.

The Pennsylvania Taxpayer Relief Act merely serves as a Band-Aid for Pennsylvania’s property tax crisis. Rather than confronting increased school spending, the recent legislation offers voter referendum with no teeth and no way to control the spending explosion that is taking place in our school districts. Sound property tax relief in Pennsylvania will not become a reality until school spending is substantively restrained by empowering taxpayers with a vote on any and all tax increases. Only when we give control back to the people who pay the bills will relief come to Pennsylvania homeowners.

Mary F. Yoder is a research intern with the Commonwealth Foundation, an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational institute located in Harrisburg.

For information concerning the PA Coalition of Taxpayer Associations go to www.dbta.org or nopropertytaxes@yahoo.com

"Con Game"...whose in?

Looks like a con game!

The most logical explanation for Pennsylvania's ill-conceived and hastily written slot-machine gambling law is that it was drafted not by members of that august body known as the General Assembly of the Keystone State, but by the lovable group of film incompetents called the Keystone Kops.

As evidence -- only the most recent clue to be uncovered -- the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (Keystone Kops, indeed!) will not tell the public who holds how much of a stake in each of the 22 applicants for 14 gambling licenses the board hopes to issue by the end of the year.
Members of the board apparently know but don't think you need to or that their charter allows them to tell.

This means -- not to pick on Franco Harris, but he's a big guy and can take it, and the former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steeler standout is an investor in one of the groups seeking a license -- the public can't be certain whether Harris is a major financial partner or just a celebrity front man for other politically well-connected concerns.

The same is true for businessman Brian Tierney, who is now the chief executive of the company that owns our former sister newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and is a slots applicant as well.

The list of potential licensees released by the Gaming Board does not even identify those who set up the children's trusts involved in several of the slots applications. "Trust," in this case, apparently refers less to the funds and more to what is required of the public.
But it is proprietary information and, therefore, confidential, a spokesman for the Kops ... er ... the Gaming Control Board said.

This is state-sponsored gambling. The stakes are stratospheric. Billions of dollars are involved. Residents of the commonwealth have no right to know who will be getting how much of what?
It gets better -- or worse, depending on whether you enjoy slapstick. A legislative attorney who helped write the slots law disagrees with the Kops over what can and cannot be disclosed.
"It has to be really related to some kind of business plan or trade secret that would otherwise be damaging if it were disclosed publicly," a lawyer for state Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, said. "I wouldn't know how ... making that public harms the business model and plans of the applicant."

Nor do we. Nor, amazingly, does the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission -- and horse racing has been linked in the past with a betting scandal or two. The commission released detailed corporate structures and ownership stakes behind each applicant for a racing license that would also qualify for a slots license.

But those charged with regulating the state's nascent gambling industry are saying, "We know. That's enough. You don't need to. Just trust us."

Trust and gambling are not often thought of as natural partners in the tradition of, say, Abbott and Costello. That's why players ask the dealer to cut the cards.

"It only makes it look like both the government and applicants have something to hide," Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said of the open-records fiasco. "And that's not where they want to start if they want to earn the public's confidence."
As we have stated previously, every aspect of the state's gambling enterprise must be operated transparently, above board and beyond reproach.

Confidence? This keeps looking more and more like a confidence game.

from on-line www.centredaily.com August, 2006

For information concerning the PA Coalition of Taxpayers go to www.dbta.org or contact nopropertytaxes@yahoo.com

Sucker Bet for Taxpayers

Gov. Ed Rendell is riding high in the polls and sitting on top of a giant pile of cash as he prepares to seeking another four-year term.

He has the state’s biggest media outlets (the fawning Philadelphia TV stations and newspapers) in his back pocket. He has the power of incumbency, which allows him to travel all over Pennsylvania at taxpayer expense for thinly disguised campaign appearances, including handing out millions of taxpayer dollars in areas Rendell needs to buy votes.

But don’t bet the farm that Rendell will coast to re-election. Rendell does have an Achilles’ heal. Actually, he has two major problems. Rendell promised to cut everyone’s taxes when he first ran for governor. He has failed to deliver on the promise. The best he could do is a rebate plan, where he plans to borrow money from the state lottery to send a few hundred dollars back to low-income seniors. The rest of the state -- 80 percent of Pennsylvania taxpayers -- won’t get a dime back from Rendell.

The second glaring blunder in Rendell’s first term was the middle-of-the-night passage of a casino gambling bill pushed by Rendell through the Republican legislature. Almost every Democratic legislator voted for Rendell’s gambling plan and enough Republican legislators joined in to form a gambling majority.

Two years later, we are finally beginning to realize how awful this gambling bill truly is. And politicians are beginning to understand that the anti-gaming constituency is not going away. Many Pennsylvania voters will go to the polls this November with one thing mind: Punish Rendell and the legislators who brought gambling to Pennsylvania.

Republican state senators, chastised by the drubbing their leadership took in the May primary, have asked the the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to delay licensing slots parlors until the Legislature can go back and fix the many loopholes in the gambling law. A citizens group called CasinoFreePa is organizing a petition drive to have the entire gambling bill repealed. Even Lynn Swann, the GOP candidate for governor, has figured out that gambling could be his ticket to unseat Rendell. On Friday, Swann called on Rendell to specifically list gambling reforms that the governor favors so the Legislature can act on them."Passing a piece of legislation for reform knowing that the governor is not going to sign it means what?" So it appears that the first licenses will be awarded next month before the Legislature has an opportunity to fix the gaping holes in the gambling law.

It appears all the nightmare scenarios that gambling opponents warned us about two years are coming true. We have lobbyists and legislators owning casinos that will be regulated by the state. We have a Gaming Control Board that can’t live within its means. The board has already spent all of the money the Legislature has set aside for it and has had to borrow money from other state agencies.

Insiders predict Rendell, if re-elected this November, will go back to the Legislature early in 2007 and propose expanding the slots parlors to full casinos, just like neighboring New Jersey. If the Gaming Board can’t get its act together to regulate a dozen slots parlors, what makes you think it can handle full-blown casinos?

Swann also took a shot at Rendell for vetoing a bill two years ago that would have eliminated a provision allowing lawmakers to have stakes in companies licensed under the state’s slot machine law. The same bill would have forced Gaming Control Board meetings to be open to the public and it would have imposed right-to-know laws on the board’s business. It also would have required state police background checks of board employees. But Rendell vetoed the bill. Pennsylvania’s rush to enact gambling has opened a Pandora’s Box of financial mismanagement, shady deals and cronyism. One look at Rendell’s campaign contributions from the gaming industry should raise questions about what the governor’s motives were in pushing so hard to bring casinos to Pennsylvania.

Outwardly, Rendell promised tax relief from casino revenues, but the numbers don’t add up. Billions of dollars will have to be wagered and lost by Pennsylvania residents before a dollar is returned in property tax relief. And there’s a strong possibility that no tax relief will come to fruition until after 2010 when Rendell leaves office (if he wins a second term).

Rendell promised tax relief in 2002. Eight years is a long time to wait. And something else could have been done in the eight years Pennsylvania residents have been waiting for their luck to change.We know who’s already won. Rendell has millions of dollars in his campaign war chest from the gaming industry. Lawmakers can own as much as 1 percent of a gambling company. Political cronies sit on the Gaming Board or have been hired to work for the board. Nearly $50 million in taxpayer money has been spent so far by the board and not a single license has been issued. We also know who the losers are so far: Pennsylvania taxpayers who took Rendell’s sucker bet.

Printed in the Pottstown Mercury, written by tphyrillas@pottsmerc.com

For information concerning the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations go to www.dbta.org

Uniting of Taxpayer Groups

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2006
Contact: Cheryl Zaleski, email: czaleski@casdtaxpayeralliance.com

Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations Demands Repeal of Act 1

Harrisburg, PA—Sixteen taxpayer advocacy groups from across the Commonwealth met for the first time at the Capitol Building in Harrisburg on Friday, 21 July 2006, uniting to denounce the recently enacted Act 1.

Through four hours of discussion and debate, they unanimously resolved to demand the immediate repeal of Act 1, the Governor’s and Legislature’s version of property tax relief.

Citing the fact that the Act gives only the lowest income senior citizens a mere $150 increase in property tax relief, while ignoring the rest of the property owners in the state who pay astronomically high property tax bills, the Coalition wants everyone to realize the massive fraud that has been perpetrated on the people of Pennsylvania.

“Ed Rendell claims this Act represents $1 billion in property tax relief. He is lying,” stated Cheryl Zaleski, spokesperson for the Coalition. “Property tax relief is supposed to be funded with future gaming revenues from slot machines. The gaming fund begins $300 million in debt thanks to Rendell’s pandering for the senior citizen vote, and a whole host of statewide programs must be funded before an accumulation of $400 million exists for initial distribution to property owners statewide. This will take years and years to achieve.”

“In the meantime, school property taxes continue to rise well above the rate of inflation, the exceptions given to permit school boards the ability to avoid voter referendum render the concept of the people controlling expenditures meaningless, and the Legislature expects everyone to pay an increased local EIT. These increases wipe out close to all savings the vast majority of homesteaders are targeted to receive whenever the gaming distribution begins. In short, the ‘property tax relief’ the Governor is championing is nothing more than another Rendell tax increase for the overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians.”

The Coalition wants the Legislature to focus on property tax reform. The goal is to eliminate school district property taxes for primary residences, at minimum, and fund public schools with state revenues. Some coalition members advocate the elimination of all school district property taxes while some want to eliminate all primary residential property taxes.

The Coalition also recognizes that no matter what the funding source is for education, it needs cost controls. Another resolution passed by the Coalition supports a bill sponsored by State Representative Will Gabig. It will end teacher strikes in Pennsylvania and seeks the support of state legislators as co-sponsors to demonstrate their support for children and working families in Pennsylvania.

(End Release)

For additional information contact nopropertytaxes@yahoo.com or visit www.dbta.org