Thursday, January 19, 2006
Jamming it down our throats
First, the Pennsylvania Legislature made it optional for school districts to opt into lowering their property tax rates in exchange for a portion of the state's estimated $1 billion annual slot machine largesse.Districts who wanted some of the state money had to make up part of the property tax decrease through increases in local income taxes. They also had to agree to limit their future increases to something approaching the regular inflation rate.
Surprise, surprise. Fearing their future taxing power would be sapped, fewer than 100 of the 501 public school systems in the state opted into the plan under Act 72.
Now, some in the Legislature are trying to make the program mandatory for all districts by requiring them to offer it to voters as a referendum in the May primary.
This despite the fact that the Legislature opted not to hold a statewide referendum on gambling in the first place. Instead, they approved it in the dead of night on a holiday weekend without debate by slipping it into another unrelated bill.
It's obvious that lawmakers just want to make our schools so hooked on gambling money that any movement to do away with the slots law can't happen. And like any good drug pusher or bad salesman, no isn't an answer they're accepting.
On top of that, the districts would still be required to increase local income taxes. And now, Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill, R-Lebanon, wants to add another .5 percent onto the state's 6 percent sales tax, and then stretch it to include about 20 items that currently are not taxed. Little things like tampons, toilet paper, diapers and baby wipes.
My only question now is where is the gain here for Joe Taxpayer, other than a short-lived reprieve on property taxes?
And even that's guaranteed to last only until the next teachers' contract in each district gets passed.
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The Daily Rant by Dave Ralis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
The Daily Rant by Dave Ralis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
