Offered by Bill Kearney:
Casinos haven't truly paid off for Pa. residents
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Pennsylvania has surpassed New Jersey to become the second-largest casino market in America. In the proud state where our nation was born, saved and built, it is now the official public policy to gladly fleece anyone who would gladly be fleeced, but no one can say that slots have performed below expectations.
No one, that is, except the citizens of Pennsylvania, because it turns out we were sold a bill of goods.
In July 2004, then-Gov. Ed Rendell declared that gaming is "a good, significant step on the road to property tax relief." We were told that slot machine revenue would be used to cut property taxes by an average of 20 percent.
Eight years later, how's that gaming bonanza working out for you? Only in the alternate reality of Harrisburg could, for example, the paltry $123 reduction to North Hills School District homeowners be considered a "good, significant step on the road to property tax relief." Overall, the average home-owner's school taxes have been reduced by $198 a year in a state where, according to a 2010 Tax Foundation report, the median property tax bill was $2,223 and Allegheny County's topped $2,500.
Where's the rest of the money going? Among others, supposedly "economic development" and "senior citizens" -- the Gregorian chants of state bureaucrats looking to end the discussion when someone dares to ask "where's the money going?"
Down, down, down the money goes, into a deep, black hole where it's nearly impossible to trace, and the hole's appetite is never satisfied.
TIM MURRAY
Pleasant Hills
Read more: http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12103/1223539-110.stm#ixzz1rvQ6xubs
Casinos haven't truly paid off for Pa. residents
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Pennsylvania has surpassed New Jersey to become the second-largest casino market in America. In the proud state where our nation was born, saved and built, it is now the official public policy to gladly fleece anyone who would gladly be fleeced, but no one can say that slots have performed below expectations.
No one, that is, except the citizens of Pennsylvania, because it turns out we were sold a bill of goods.
In July 2004, then-Gov. Ed Rendell declared that gaming is "a good, significant step on the road to property tax relief." We were told that slot machine revenue would be used to cut property taxes by an average of 20 percent.
Eight years later, how's that gaming bonanza working out for you? Only in the alternate reality of Harrisburg could, for example, the paltry $123 reduction to North Hills School District homeowners be considered a "good, significant step on the road to property tax relief." Overall, the average home-owner's school taxes have been reduced by $198 a year in a state where, according to a 2010 Tax Foundation report, the median property tax bill was $2,223 and Allegheny County's topped $2,500.
Where's the rest of the money going? Among others, supposedly "economic development" and "senior citizens" -- the Gregorian chants of state bureaucrats looking to end the discussion when someone dares to ask "where's the money going?"
Down, down, down the money goes, into a deep, black hole where it's nearly impossible to trace, and the hole's appetite is never satisfied.
TIM MURRAY
Pleasant Hills
Read more: http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12103/1223539-110.stm#ixzz1rvQ6xubs
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment