Defeat House Bill 1600 NOW!

18 September 2007

Dear Friends,

The seven House Finance Committee dog-and-pony-show hearings on House Bill 1600 are finally completed and pretty much worked against the sponsors of this useless legislation. The lawmakers who are promoting this measure received mostly negative comments from both taxpayers and those who testified at the hearings, with many of the hearings turning raucous because of loud taxpayer discontent with this old, tired, valueless “solution” to the property tax crisis. On September 6 a Reading Eagle editorial hammered the Committee because they turned deaf ears to the taxpayers’ wishes: http://internetservices.readingeagle.com/blog/editorials/archives/2007/09/voices_of_the_v.html

If you’re unfamiliar with HB 1600, it’s another temporary property tax “relief” scheme similar to the Act 1 referendum that will permanently raise the state sales and income taxes to finance a small homestead rebate (average $414) that will quickly be eaten away by continually rising property taxes. Further, it does absolutely nothing to address the underlying problems with education finance; it is simply another fraud being perpetrated on Pennsylvania homeowners. More details about HB 1600 are available in the August 24 PTCC update available here: http://mysite.verizon.net/drbsr/PTCCWeb/arc082407.htm

In a related matter, the Associated Press reported over the weekend that property tax reform faces opposition from legislators who do not want to vote to raise other statewide taxes to pay for it and that they claim the defeat of the Act 1 referendum proves their point. These uninformed, misguided lawmakers fail to understand that taxpayers DO NOT OBJECT to raising other statewide taxes if school property taxes are COMPLETELY ELIMINATED. We object strenuously only to raising taxes for fake TEMPORARY “relief” such as HB 1600.

Now that the hearings have delivered the first blow to the sponsors of HB 1600, we need to hit them again – hard - to permanently knock this fraudulent measure out of contention.

Please call, write, or e-mail your district’s Representative to let them know that you do not want HB 1600 in any manner whatsoever and that you will hold them accountable if they support this bill. Further, let them know that you DO NOT CARE if a statewide tax such as the sales tax is raised as long as it ELIMINATES school property taxes. Debate on property tax reform will begin soon and we must get these messages to the legislators NOW!

If you do not know your Representative’s contact information it is available by Zip+4 at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm.

It is notable that two co-sponsors of HB 1600, Rep. Carl Mantz (Berks) and Rep. Stan Saylor (York) have withdrawn their co-sponsorship of this bill. We send our heartfelt thanks to them for the courage and integrity they exhibited by doing this. Please feel free to offer your thanks and encouragement to them.

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New PTCC Blog

There’s a new blog site for the PTCC! This blog is for anyone who cares to read it and EVERYONE is welcome to post comments. The blog information is identical to the PTCC updates and was started so concerned folks can have an outlet to post their own thoughts and suggestions. This is still a work in progress with a lot more information to be added (including links), so please don't be too critical. Feel free to add your own comments about property tax elimination, personal tax horror stories, anything that pertains to this subject! With enough comments it might make very interesting reading for lawmakers. http://pataxpayers.blogspot.com/

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New PCTA Member

The Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations (PCTA) is very pleased to welcome a new member group to the organization. The Oley Concerned Citizens group (Berks County) joined the PCTA last week; they will be a terrific addition to the PCTA and a huge help in furthering our goals. Please welcome them - it's great to have them on board! http://oleyconcernedcitizens.blogspot.com/

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Thank You!

Finally, many of you have been taking a great deal of initiative in helping to spread the word about the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007 by making posters, tear-offs, and other promotional materials, and by sending e-mails to friends and relatives. A large number of you have sent me copies of your letters to legislators and their sometimes mealy-mouthed replies. As I’ve said before, the more grassroots participation we have the better chance we have at achieving our goal of school property tax ELIMINATION, so keep on working at recruiting others to join our effort. Thank you very much for keeping me informed on your activities and for working so hard on this issue. It is truly appreciated and your efforts WILL help to make a difference.

Please write to me at pataxpayers@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns.

NOW is the time to eliminate school property taxes and we WILL get this done!

David Baldinger
PTCC Administrator
http://www.ptcc.us