The dog-and-pony show that House Democrats have been putting on throughout the state on House Bill 1600 has been met with unanimous disdain by Pennsylvania taxpayers.
Homeowners don't want another Act 1 charade where you pay a higher sales or income tax in return for a reduction on property taxes. Homeowners want the elimination of property taxes.
David Baldinger, coordinator of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations, has written a letter to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese and his No. 2, Keith McCall, asking them to publicly back the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007, formerly known as the Commonwealth Caucus Plan.
Democrats can't have it both ways. They either support elimination of property taxes or they take the blame for failing to deliver on the No. 1 promise their candidates made in the 2006 election. Don't think for one minute that voters won't remember next year that property tax reform stalled at the hands of Democrats who control the House.
Here's the letter Baldinger sent:
Dear Representatives DeWeese and McCall,
This morning on the Feedback show on WEEU, Reading , Representatives Thomas Caltagirone, Sam Rohrer, and David Kessler were guests to discuss property taxes.
Representatives Caltagirone and Rohrer both were adamant about school property tax elimination while Representative Kessler insisted that HB 1600 was preferable and another "first step." The result was as definitive as it was predictable: Without exaggeration, fully one hundred percent of the callers supported elimination while many disparaged both HB 1600 and Representative Kessler’s support of this measure.
The results of the House Finance Committee hearings on HB 1600 last week in Berks and Bucks Counties were similar. Both hearings had a large turnout of voters and witnesses who favor elimination, with very few, if any, supporters for HB 1600.
As a spokesperson for the twenty-one member groups of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations (PCTA), I am respectfully requesting on behalf of the PCTA that you issue a co-sponsorship memorandum for the bipartisan School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007 as soon as possible so that the bill may be introduced in a timely fashion for the beginning of the September session of the House of Representatives.
The PCTA and our more than 15,000 members fully support the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007 and, further, will also fully support any House member who will help to advance this legislation.
In recent newspaper articles and in e-mail releases by the House Democratic Caucus you both, as leaders, have indicated your support for school property tax elimination. Please continue to maintain this support and to do all that is possible to aid the passage of this bill for the benefit of all Pennsylvania homeowners and schoolchildren.
The courtesy of a reply would be appreciated.
Very truly yours,
David Baldinger
Administrator, Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition
Member, Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations
225 New Castle Drive
Reading, PA 19607
http://www.ptcc.us/
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