State lawmaker finally pays $33,000 in back taxes

Pennsylvania homeowners aren't the only ones struggling to pay their property taxes.

State Rep. Ken Smith, D-112th Dist., recently paid $33,000 in overdue property taxes (some of it dating back to 2005) on a business he owns in Lackawanna County, according to the Times-Tribune newspaper.

Smith, a Dunmore resident, has held the 112th Dist. House seat since 2006. He ran unopposed in the April 22 Democratic primary. No Republican is challenging Smith in the general election.

You'd think that Smith would be leading the charge to eliminate property taxes in Pennsylvania since he appears to have trouble paying them on time, but he was not one of the co-sponsors of House Bill 1275 and he did not support the bill when it came up for a vote in January.

Read more on Smith's delinquent taxes at the newspaper's Web site.