Latest tax-relief bill puts seniors at head of class
By Alison Knezevich
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania School Boards Association opposes a plan by state Democratic leaders to let voters decide whether gambling revenue should be used for school-property tax relief.
The association, instead, backs a bill that would provide property-tax cuts for senior citizens by expanding the state's property tax-rent rebate program for them.
The bill -- introduced Tuesday by state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery -- also would use the gambling revenue left on the table by school districts that opted out. Most school boards have rejected Act 72 -- the law giving school boards the authority to decide whether to accept gambling money for tax relief.
"This is a way of using the gaming money to achieve everyone's goal -- which is property-tax relief for those who need it most, which is seniors," said school boards association spokesman Scott Shewell.
Of the state's 501 school districts, 111 voted to participate in Act 72. The law was passed by the General Assembly last July to accompany the law that legalizes slot machines in 14 Pennsylvania venues.
Under Greenleaf's tax-relief bill, gambling revenue rejected by school boards would be used to raise the income cut-off for participants in the property tax-rebate program -- from $15,000 to $30,000. The bill also would increase the maximum rebate from $500 to $1,200.
Greenleaf said his plan ensures that people on fixed incomes are the ones who get relief from high property taxes.
Under the Democratic plan, "you're giving money to people who may not need it," he said.
The school boards association had criticized the Democrats' proposed Act 72 revisions, unveiled Monday by state Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow of Lackawanna County and House Minority Leader William DeWeese of Greene County. DeWeese called the proposed revisions "Plan B" for Act 72.
The Democrats' proposal would allow voters in school districts where school boards rejected Act 72 to decide whether to accept gambling money to pay for property-tax cuts. Democratic leaders contend that many school boards went against their constituents' wishes.
The Democrats' plan would drop a requirement for school districts that approve the plan to raise their earned-income tax rate by 0.01 percentage point. They said the money might reach taxpayers earlier -- possibly by next year -- because the revision reduces the amount of gambling revenue that the state must raise before distributing it for tax relief.
Shewell, of the school boards association, said the Democrats' plan still contains a provision -- called a "back-end referendum" -- that would require voters to approve any future property-tax increases above the rate of inflation.
"The issue with this is, what happens if the (back-end) referendum is turned down?" he said.
School districts already short of money could be forced to cut non-academic programs, such as art classes and athletics, if voters don't want to raise taxes, Shewell said.
G. Terry Madonna, a public-affairs professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster County, described Greenleaf's plan as a "political win-win" for school boards -- it would offer tax relief for seniors but would not interfere with local control.
"Act 72 had a lot of restrictions on the fiscal autonomy of school boards, and (the Greenleaf bill) does not," Madonna said.
Source: Pittsburgh Live
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