Gov. Rendell Signs Tax Cuts Slot Machine Bill

Gov. Ed Rendell used the political battlegrounds of northeastern and western Pennsylvania as backdrops Tuesday as he signed a bill that is expected to provide $1 billion a year worth of tax cuts financed by slot machine gambling.

Rendell signed the legislation in Nanticoke, just west of Wilkes-Barre, at the home of Nellie Hughes. The 88-year-old widow of a coal miner expects to see her school property tax bill reduced from $698 per year to zero once the new law is fully in effect in a few years.

"Today is a great day for Pennsylvania homeowners, especially seniors who have been driven from their homes as they attempt to escape the burden of skyrocketing property taxes for too long," Rendell said in a statement released by his Harrisburg office.

The Democratic governor staged a ceremonial bill-signing in Pittsburgh later in the day, at the home of a 76-year-old widow who also stands to see her school tax erased by the law.

Fifteen miles away at a private residence in suburban Pittsburgh, Rendell's Republican rival, former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann, touted his own tax plan, which would replace the state's assessment-based property tax system with one based on market values.

Swann said the law is not a victory for Rendell, who had proposed reducing school property taxes by an average 30 percent when he was elected in 2002, but rather a ''capitulation.''

"It's another Band-Aid on the bleeding artery when it comes to property tax reform," Swann said.

The new law, which the GOP-controlled House enacted nearly two weeks ago, is expected to provide what the Rendell administration bills as the largest property tax cut in Pennsylvania history. Overall, it is expected to cut property taxes by about 17 percent.

It was passed at a time many lawmakers are facing uphill re-election battles because of the short-lived pay raise they gave themselves last year.

June 29, 2006
Posted By Bob Hartman
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