Youtube Takes On More Regal Air

Avery N. Bogdon

THE LATEST attempt to provide property tax relief for Pennsylvania residents is Act I, which purports to implement Act 71, the gaming bill designed to provide needed property tax relief.
The problem is that Act 71 is a sham, and tax relief is only provided after most of the gaming revenue is used for other purposes. These include economic development projects such as a stadium in Pittsburgh, funds for Philadelphia to reduce the sales tax, grants for so-called projects around each casino and distribution of $200 million to the lottery fund to cover the increased rebates to senior citizens and renters for property taxes.
It is obvious that when Gov. Ed Rendell proposed gaming for Pennsylvania, the Republicans, who opposed Act 71 unless property tax relief was included, were sleeping at the switch or were in collusion with the Democrats in the legislature to pull the wool over the eyes of property owners. 
When Act 71 was developed, both parties in the legislature allowed gaming funds to be used for economic projects without limitation. Then they designated whatever was leftover for property tax relief. Had the Republicans held fast to their efforts to have property tax relief come first and economic projects come second, we would now be receiving tax relief. Instead, the way Act 71 and Act I are written, property tax relief only comes after the funds are depleted.
I can only come to the conclusion that Republicans and Democrats in the legislature were together in this failed attempt, making fools out of taxpayers. 
I was involved in school tax reduction activity during Act 50, Act 72 and Act I. Only after the Act I tax shift relief failed did I realize what our legislature had done to Pennsylvania property owners. There is a saying, &ldquo;you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.&rdquo; It is time for taxpayers to hold our representatives accountable for this fiasco called Act 71 and Act I.
At best, when gaming funds are distributed according to the formula in Act I, only $165 to $200 per property owner will be distributed for property tax relief. This is assuming the gaming money is not dissipated by the government and legislature for other projects.
At present, there is no restriction in either bill to prevent the dissipation of gaming funds before tax relief is started.
For example, $200 million was arbitrarily sent over to the lottery fund to pay senior citizens and renters their increased rebates. Funny, but many did not apply for the rent rebate, and consequently the governor extended the rebate application period from June 30 to Dec. 31. To date, I have found that only $70 million of the $200 million has been spent, but no money has been sent back to the property tax relief fund. This $130 million would have met all of the phony requirements in Act I allowing property tax relief, as small as it may be, to begin on Jan. 1. 
Now, the governor indicates this may happen in the spring. However, there is no guarantee because the &ldquo;and&rdquo; was put in the wrong place in Act 71.
When I realized that this shell game called tax relief was in Act I and Act 71, I notified our Northeast Democratic Caucus and Republican senators and state representatives. My state representative, Phyllis Mundy, helped me obtain the information necessary to write this commentary. 
When I began trying to find out how to correct property tax relief, I had to do much research. Thanks to the cooperation of Mundy and her staff, along with various people in Harrisburg, it became clear to me that the taxpayers were being fooled. That&rsquo;s why I used the term &ldquo;shell game&rdquo; above.
As everyone knows, in a shell game, a pea has to be under one of the shells. In acts 71 and I, there is no pea under any of the three shells. Here is the way to correct this sham: Put the &ldquo;and&rdquo; in Act 71 in the correct order. Tax relief should come first with a maximum amount of relief to take place. Then, the &ldquo;and&rdquo; would be inserted, allowing extraneous projects and rebates to senior citizens and renters to be second in consideration. 
In Act 71, all of the money could be dissipated by the governor with nothing left for tax relief. I cannot believe that the Republicans in the legislature meant to fool their constituents with this bill, but I would let them answer their constituents about why this took place.
As of now, at least one Representative woke up to what I am relating here and has introduced a bill hopefully to do what I am recommending in this commentary &ndash; state Rep. Neil Goodman. I have requested from my representative a copy of the bill and am asking that my representative support it and add to it.
To date, I have followed the dissipation of the gaming funds and the so-called buildup of the funds to begin property tax relief at the school-tax level. So for I have learned, as stated previously, that:
&#8226; $200 million was transferred improperly to the lottery fund, of which at least $130 million needs to be returned to the tax relief fund.
&#8226; After gaming fund dissipations, there was as of Oct. 7 $501.8 million available for property tax relief. This was after $344 million was dissipated because of the &ldquo;and&rdquo; being in the wrong place in Act 71.
If you want to go by present law (Act I and 71), there is an increase of $34 million and more for tax relief each month. Based on this, it will take until the end of March for the fund to reach the desired level for property tax relief to begin.
&#8226; If the legislature were to follow my advice and stop the drain of tax relief funds, we should reach the goal of tax relief by the end of this month and be able to begin sending tax relief funds to the school districts in January. 
As mentioned previously, unless the money is dissipated because of the faulty Act 71, the maximum relief will be $165 to $200 per owner. This is assuming Act 71 and Act 1 are amended to stop the stealing from the taxpayers. 
Hopefully the bill from Goodman and this commentary will encourage our representatives to correct their wrong in approving Act 71 and Act I in their present form.

State Legislators Need To Fix Problems That Are Preventing Property Tax Relief Commentary Thomas Dombroski