Letter to the Editor: Legislature Has Duty to Consider Interests of All

To the Editor:

It is remarkable that in the same week in which the State House Finance Committee voted 13-11 to table the latest hope for tax relief for the beleaguered homeowner, a bipartisan coalition of state legislators has quickly coalesced around a plan to offer a $1.65 billion public funds bribe to Shell Oil to open a “cracker” plant in Beaver County.

I do not dismiss the giveaway to highly profitable Shell out of hand; it would be marvelous to welcome thousands of family-sustaining jobs to Southwestern Pennsylvania. But the General Assembly has a duty to consider the interests of all Pennsylvanians, not merely a special and narrow interest.

It chose to thumb its nose at state homeowners by rejecting the most reasonable and equitable property tax relief plan to come along in a long time.

Berks County State Representative Jim Cox’s “Property Tax Independence Act,” which now lies wounded in the trash, would have increased the state sales and income taxes and extended the sales tax to non-necessities like candy, gum, and clothing items for which the price is $50 or more.

In exchange, the noose of local school property taxes would have been removed from homeowners’ necks.

The Cox plan should have set to rest any concerns that such a tax swap would be a regressive detriment to the poor.

The gargantuan bite that local school property taxes out of our pockets, particularly in big-government, high-tax Upper St. Clair, the emotional toll it extracts, and the worry it inflicts render this the most inequitable and inane levy after the state’s grave-robbing and uniquely cruel death/inheritance tax.

It is worthy of note that nine of the 13 votes to table the legislation were provided by Republicans. These members of the GOP are apparently unconcerned about the deleterious effects the property tax has on their fellow Pennsylvanians and are willing to cede the issue of tax reform to their Democratic colleagues.

The "Dirty Baker's Dozen" that voted to table the property tax reform bill include: House Republicans Kerry Benninghoff, Gordon Denlinger, George Dunbar, Eli Evankovich, Fred Keller, Duane Milne, Michael Peifer, Kathy Rapp, Mario Scavello, and Democrats Kevin Boyle, Tim Briggs, Margo Davidson, and Madeleine Dean. (Source: State House Website, Votes)

The only local Representative on the House Finance Committee, my friend, Mount Lebanon Democrat Matt Smith, voted against killing the Cox property tax reform bill, demonstrating his understanding of the toll that the property tax extracts on those that are subject to it. I am deeply grateful to him.

If there is anything to be said in defense of those who voted against the Cox legislation, it is that they represent the mindset of the General Assembly at large, which at heart, has no desire or courage to do the right thing to make owning a home less of a burden. I have personally discussed the issue of property tax relief with State Representative John Maher and State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi. The responses of both make it clear to me that property tax reform/relief is, inexplicably, not a priority for them.

Billl O’Reilly, host of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, often states, “I’m lookin’ out for you!” If only members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly could persuasively make that statement to their constituents. Many of them primarily look out for the rich and influential while maintaining a blind spot to legitimate concerns of the electorate.

Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair