I read four stories the other day in a Berks County newspaper. See if you can pick out a common theme.
The first, “Preliminary Antietam schools budget calls for higher taxes,” is about my local school district, which has raised property taxes every year since Gov. Ed Rendell came to office promising to ease the property tax burden on Pennsylvania homeowners. More on that later.
The next article was “Exeter schools budget calls for 7.8 percent tax hike.” I then jumped to “Gov. Mifflin budget would raise taxes” and then read, “Boyertown schools preliminary budget shows tax hike.”
All four articles were published the same day. Four school districts. Four preliminary budgets approved. Four significant property tax increases. How can this be?
Gov. Rendell promised to reduce property taxes standing on his head. That’s what he told voters in 2002 when he first ran. He then promised Pennsylvania residents that the approval of 51,000 slot machines would bring tax relief. That was in 2004. The following year, he promised that the passage of Act 72 would finally put a stop to runaway property tax increases. The year after that, Rendell promised that Act 1 was the final line in the sand when it comes to those school property taxes.
“This day is a major victory for Pennsylvanians who have fought for decades to have their property taxes cut,” Rendell said as he signed Act 1 into law in June 2006. “Every homeowner in Pennsylvania will not only get significant reduction, but they will finally get a say in future tax increases. This bill represents a victory of the possible over politics-as-usual.”
What planet is this guy living on? It’s been almost two years since the “historic” property tax cuts Rendell promised us and almost every school district in Pennsylvania is raising property taxes, not lowering them.
Even the $1 billion in property tax relief the governor promised would materialize from the casino revenues is a sucker’s bet. Some homeowners will get as little as $33 back this year from the casino revenues. Others may see $100 to $200.
Since Rendell signed the casino legislation in July 2004, property taxes have risen dramatically for most Pennsylvania homeowners. Whatever refund money is coming back from the state has already been gobbled up by the local school districts. And then some.
Rendell’s promise to give taxpayers a say in future property tax hikes under Act 1 was as hollow as Rendell’s initial pledge to cut property taxes by 30 percent standing on his head.
Act 1, which was heralded by Rendell and House Democrats as historic tax relief, is another cruel hoax on Pennsylvania taxpayers. There are no controls over school district spending. How can school districts justify tax hikes of nearly 8 percent when the rate of inflation is under 3 percent?
“School boards will still be able to raise property taxes each year to keep up with inflation — and even more in many communities — but sensible and fair voter controls mean that taxpayers will now have a direct say in the most extreme tax increases,” Rendell said in a press release last June. Apparently, the governor’s Education Department didn’t get a copy of the news release.
Rendell promoted Act 1 as a measure that would give taxpayers greater control over future school tax increases. It’s not happening. All 210 school districts that applied for a waiver from the cap in 2007 were granted the exemption by the state. In Berks County, 16 of 18 school districts were granted exemption from seeking voter approval to raise school taxes beyond the inflationary index last year.
Should I believe what Rendell says or the tax bill I’m going to get in the mail soon from my local school district? Somebody is lying. There’s a reason Rendell is known as “Fast Eddie.”
Every scheme Rendell and the Legislature have come up with over the past five years has failed. The latest, House Bill 1600, is another sham. The only solution to the property tax burden is the elimination of school property taxes. Everything else is a slap in the face for Pennsylvania’s beleaguered homeowners.
It’s too late to punish Rendell for his dishonesty on the property tax issue. He’s safely in office until 2010. But all 203 members of the state House of Representatives and 25 members of the state Senate face the voters this year.
It’s time to send a clear message to the political aristocracy in Harrisburg. You have one last chance to eliminate property taxes by passing House Bill 1275 or we, the voters, will do away with your job.
PROPERTY SCHOOL TAX
THIS IS ME AND MY WIFE SHEERY’S PROBLEM THE SCHOOL TAX WE ARE SENIOR CITZENS AND RAISE 6 CHILDREN TAT ARE GROWN UP AND WE STIIL HAVE TO PAY SCOOL TAX WICH IS VERY HARD TO PAY IT KEEPS GOING UP-UP-UP AND WE HANE NO SAY AND WE ARE ALL ALONE NOW AND ON SOCIAL SECURTY AND SHOULFN’T PAY SCOOL TAX WHEN RETIERED———————————-gary_freiwald@yahoo.com
I have paid school taxes
I have paid school taxes for over 30 years and never had children. At least you did at some points use the system. My husband is disabled and I can’t even consider retiring with these taxes climbing at such a horrid rate.
“How can school districts
“How can school districts justify tax hikes of nearly 8 percent when the rate of inflation is under 3 percent?”
Special Education costs have risen tenfold. Finding ways to pay for special education services has become a crisis in many school districts
as the number of qualified students has increased. Over the last decade state & federal funding has been well short of dramatically rising costs.
This is just one of many cost drivers. Pensions, benefits, salaries, building materials, technology, transportation are just a few of the others.
Unfortunately, I can actually see budgets rising at about eight percent.
JM
School Property tax
I feel as though the education of our children should have no boundaries as far as dollar value goes. As always the people with the least suffer the most. Taxes should be rated on the worth of the individual. I and my wife are retired and have a fixed income (12 thousand a year). We barely make ends meet and when we do, they change the ends. I realize that getting casinos legalized in Pennsylvania was a scam to steal more of people’s money and that only a small percent of a small percent will go to reduce taxes.The real solution is to give very wealthy people the opportunity to be gallant and proud. When we all realize that the very wealthy (making over 100 thousand a year or having over 200 thousand saved)will have to pay 10 times as much as the poor, the tax burden will be met. Thank you for your time. Sincerely yours, David Lee Rosso
Property Taxes
I am annoyed with the never ending property tax hikes in my area, Malvern, PA. My salary should go up as frequently and as much as my property taxes. Once again I get a notice that the taxes are going up. I am widowed in my early 50’s and trying to keep the house afloat, and it is getting increasingly difficult to do so.
I have no problem supporting the school system. I have no children and my taxes keep go up and up. Why should I have to pay taxes the same as a family of 3 or 4? There should be some kind of balance. Someone explain.
Sincerely
LWF
The everyday homeowner has
The everyday homeowner has absolutely no influence over the school board’s decisions and it is for the that reason that they simply raise taxes when they see fit and they fit everytime they meet. They truly are out of control and it is very difficult to replace members of board. But you can replace your representatives in Harrisburg and you can do that with your vote. So don’t vote with your party, vote with heart. Your heart will tell you to vote for the guy that will end this taxation without “honest” representation.
A way out of property tax
I have studied this issue now for 2 years, and I have what I consider to be a possible solution to the problem.
#1 Only people with children utilizing the schools should have to pay property tax. If you don’t drive you don’t pay gas tax, don’t smoke, don’t pay cigarette tax right, so why should you pay school tax if your not utilizing the schools.
My solution..take each districts student population and divide it into the proposed budget. Deduct the money alotted by the state to that school district from the proposed budget to get a realistic figure.
Once you have the realistic figure and you divide the amount of students in your district into the proposed budget you will then get a “per family figure”, or what each students parents are responsible for in order to send their child to school.
Now the initial figure per child will be high, but if you pass a flat tax strategy across the board and use the extra money acquired from the increased tax base to allow the state to allot more money for schools, then the figures will be much lower.
Yes, in a way it is a tax shift, but instead of getting hit with a huge tax bill, everyone is helping to pay it through daily purchases. I feel that it will still have a impact on our senior citizens as they will be paying tax on goods not previously taxed, but it shouldn’t have such a dramatic impact that they lose their homes, or have to not get prescription medications so they can afford to pay their property taxes.
If we don’t act with the entire property tax issue, it will have catastrophic results. Imagine if/when taxes rise more people cannot afford to pay property tax so they lose their homes. That means a decreased tax base to draw money from. As more and more homes sit abandoned, thats less and less tax dollars the schools have. So the schools have to raise taxes even higher next year, or ask the state for more money to meet the budget, and guess where the needed money comes from, you and I. We already live in the top 3 highest taxed states(I’ve heard PA referred to as “Taxsylvania”
I hope we all can weather the storm of a failing economy, and see a rainbow on the other side, but right now it’s still dark with no clearing in sight.
If you’d like to contact me my email address is tim36inpa@yahoo.com
I totally agree with this.
I totally agree with this. I have never had children and have paid these high taxes for over 30 years. Why should I have to work to pay to educate children that aren’t mine.
I agree
I think it would be a great idea to raise the sales tax. I don’t know if it will satisfy demand, but I do know that it will be more evenly distributed because it will obviously based on how much you purchase. The more money you spend, well the more tax is allocated towards the schools and we can eliminate school taxes!
I don’t think that they
I don’t think that they will ever pass a “no student=no tax” bill. After all, everyone pays the taxes that support medicare, welfare etc. But what I do know is that you should not pay 6,000.00 in taxes on a house that is worth 156,000.00. We pay almost 500.00 a month to cover our tax burden (we live in Pottstown). If it rises, we will not be able to cover it and my husband makes a decent salary. Our neighbor’s house just went into foreclosure and I am seriously afraid that we will be next.
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