Unkept promise of property-tax relief

Unkept promise of property-tax relief
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era

Ask just about any homeowner what he's doing with his property-tax rebate, and you're likely to get a puzzled and surprised look.

That's because there hasn't been any to speak of.

Despite the promise in 2004 of then-Gov. Ed Rendell that revenue from slot-machine gambling would result in school taxes being cut an average of 23 percent, the percentage is nowhere near that.

"In reality, I think, in the Bucks County area, it might be 7 to 8 percent at most," says state Rep. Paul Clymer, a Bucks Republican who opposed expanded gambling. "When you're talking about a $4,000 to $5,000 tax bill and you're getting $250, that's 5 percent."

Statewide, the average reduction this year is $198, a pittance when compared to what was promised by Rendell and other supporters of expanded gambling.

Even state Rep. Bill DeWeese, a western Pennsylvania Democrat who helped shepherd the 2004 gambling bill through the Legislature, is "disappointed" that slot-machine gambling hasn't produced more tax relief for residents.

Last year, Pennsylvania outplayed New Jersey to become the second-biggest gambling state in the nation (albeit a distant second to Nevada). Pennsylvania's 10 casinos raked in $3.02 billion in gross revenue in 2011, up 21.6 percent from the previous year.

And yet, meaningful property tax relief remains elusive as ever for most Pennsylvanians.

Not all of that revenue is from slots — table games were in full swing that year — and tax relief is only to come from slot-machine play. Back out the table-game revenue, and it only makes matters worse.

Add to this the finding from the conservative Commonwealth Foundation that school taxes in Pennsylvania increased, not decreased, by $2.1 billion between 2004, when slots gambling was legalized, through 2009. During that time, slots-related tax relief totaled about $700 million.

These are the kind of statistics that make the point by Harrisburg watchdog Tim Potts that gambling was never really about property-tax relief. It was about gambling interests getting "a foot in the door" so they could expand.

"Tax relief was the Trojan horse," Potts told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently.

Gambling proponents note that the state has yet to open four casinos, as provided by law, and that this will mean even more revenue, ostensibly for property-tax relief.

Most Pennsylvanians, we would bet, won't hold their breath.



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