Pennsylvania Pulled The Old Switcheroo

Harkin back to 2002 when Gov. Ed Rendell ran for office. He promised homeowners tax relief in exchange for approving slots and casinos?

After the passage of Act 1 in 2006 homeowners apparently starting counting their chickens before they hatched because look what has happened since.

Next time Pennsylvania politicians say they want to save taxpayers money, we should all ask ourselves how much is it going to cost us this time!

The premise seemed like a good idea. Allowing a limited 51,000 slots and revenue from them to go towards homeowners was a soft sell. Perhaps some homeowners might have even thought they'd get a check. Nope. The money went to the school districts and we never saw it. Nor saw the promised reductions either.

Why not?
Here's a clue... Governor Corbett's 2011-2012 budget cut over $1.1 billion from education funds earmarked for local districts. Last January it was reported in 2012 Pa. made $1.3 billion in revenue from slots. What a coincidence, eh?

We came a long way baby
Then in January 2010 Pennsylvania allowed table games to be added. This initially brought in another $250 million for the state. As of October 2012 it's now has grown to $2.5 billion. Then in November 2013 Pennsylvania passed a law allowing gambling to take place in bars. This is expected to bring in another $150 million to the state and about $13 million spread out amongst municipalities where they reside.

This may seem like good news for homeowners. It's not. Since table games have been added, slot revenue has gone flat. Property tax payers will not see one thin dime from the table revenues nor bar gambling because it wasn't written into the law. Only the revenue from the slots.

What we have here friends is ye ole' 'bait & switch'. Anyone other than being a Harrisburg politician would likely end up in jail if they tried to pull this off.





A QUICK ANALYSIS

Casinos are being used as a tool to mask billion$ of dollars in increased taxes. Nearly every dollar credited to Pa. homeowners' property tax bill, is matched dollar for dollar by cuts to funds going to local school districts.


After getting their foot in the door (by promising property tax relief and only allowing slots), the state went on to include revenue from table games and the soon to be gambling in bars for itself. Neither of which will go towards property tax relief.


All together this will generate over $2.5 billion in revenue for the state in 2014. Additional tax revenue Pa. would have never have had if we never approved gambling in the first place.. ($1.5b from table games + $150M bar gambling + $1.1b cuts to education funding).

Slice it. Dice it any way you want, as a result of homeowners being suckered in by promises of property tax relief (we never got) the state is making out like a bandit. Next time Pennsylvania promises tax relief, I'd lube up for the inevitable of what is sure to follow. Then again, I'm the kind of guy who's confused as to why anyone still believes they're actually saving money by paying for something at a 20% off sale.