Next Steps

28 October 2008

Dear Friends,

Many of you have written to me during the past few weeks asking for an update on school property tax elimination. Please accept my apology for not writing sooner but I was waiting for complete information before sending another update.

No further action was taken by the House of Representatives on any property tax measure during the final days of the 2007-2008 legislative session as the majority leadership continued to keep bills bottled up in committee. The Pennsylvania General Assembly has now adjourned for the year and no further votes will be conducted, barring any emergency measures, until the new General Assembly convenes in January. Any bills still in committee, including HB 1275, the School Property Tax Elimination Act, will become void and will have to be re-introduced during the new session.

During the two years of the 2007-2008 session, a mere two days was spent on property tax issues and, even then, NOTHING was accomplished.

In the meantime, the House leadership is bragging about their achievements: A new dog law, regulations for massage therapists, an updated construction code, and an elk license auction. While I’m sure that these laws are worthy, they pale in comparison to the urgency of keeping thousands of Pennsylvanians in their homes rather than having them evicted for non-payment of property taxes or struggling to survive while paying those taxes.

The 2007-2008 session was a poster child for misplaced priorities.

Before looking ahead to the new session in January, we must now turn our attention to the upcoming election. Next week we will have the opportunity to strengthen our position for school property tax elimination by rejecting those lawmakers who have opposed our wishes.

A Voter’s Guide that lists co-sponsors of HB 1275, voting records on the bill, and a chart of positions for all House candidates has been published on the PTCC website. You can access this from the PTCC home page at http://www.ptcc.us by clicking on the red “Voter’s Guide” box on the upper right of the page. Please consider the information carefully before you make your decision on how to vote.

For those of you who are straight-party voters, please consider splitting your ticket if the candidate from the other party is a supporter of school property tax elimination. It is urgent that we change the makeup of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by electing those who are willing to work for us on this vital issue.

I want to thank all of you for the tremendous support you have shown during this session of the legislature and hope that you will continue this support when the new session convenes in January. We WILL keep fighting until this battle is won.

That’s all for now. Look for a post-election update in a few weeks.

Please feel free to write if you have questions or concerns: pataxpayers@gmail.com.

David Baldinger
PTCC Administrator