Thousands of Pennsylvanians seniors and middle-aged are at the risk of losing their homes and face hunger and may live below the poverty level. The working middle class want to own a home, a dream that some will never see because they cannot afford to purchase and pay the taxes that are out of reach.
President Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt encouraged supporters of the legislation, filed as SB 76 in the state Senate and HB 76 in the House, to call in to local talk radio shows to tout its benefits amidst public criticism by opponents. One of the meeting attendees offered a brief report of his recent lobbying of state legislators at their Harrisburg offices. Board member Tom Gow Sr. stated that Senate support for the bill stood at 25 of 50 members as of March 12, with House support at 87 of 202 members.
Let’s now go after a serious problem: let’s do something about the school property taxes which are about two-thirds higher than our other property taxes. This is uncalled for — 40,000 people losing their homes and around 350,000 foreclosures each year because of increasing school taxes, especially of those on limited income and on unemployment. To add insult to injury, you will never own your home when the mortgage is paid off to enjoy your golden years. Our system is archaic, and it has been for decades, and nothing was being done while those Neros in office watched people’s homes burn down. Today, it’s the same sorry excuses. If we can send man to the moon, why not!
We need property tax reform now. According to the Executive Director of the IFO [the Pennsylvania Legislature’s Independent Fiscal Office], the cumulative of school property taxes since 1994 has been 146%. These property taxes have increased at more than twice the inflation rate. Have the salaries of Pennsylvanians grown at twice the rate of inflation over the past several years? I don’t think so. It’s pretty unrealistic to believe that these property taxes are sustainable.
House Bill 1189 (H.B. 1189) was voted out of committee and brought to the full House for a vote. . . . I and some of my colleagues did not feel that this was the best method to use in addressing a very serious school property tax issue. For that reason, I placed the language of House Bill 76 (H.B. 76) into amendment form and attached it to H.B. 1189. My goal was to get a vote on H.B. 76 in that manner since the Finance Committee has refused to bring it up for a vote. Unfortunately, the amendment failed by a vote of 138–59 and ultimately, H.B. 1189 passed and has been sent to the Senate.
As president of the Wilkes-Barre City Taxpayers Association, a member group of the statewide taxpayer group known as the PTCC, or, Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition, I would like to personally thank State Representative Mundy for her public support of HB 76, the Property Tax Independence Act. As Representative Mundy stated in her letter, “I will vote for HB 76 if and when the majority party allows for a vote.” On behalf of our members, I say thank you, Representative Mundy, for your support, and we do take “yes” for an answer.