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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Most Pennsylvanians don't believe Rendell slot promises

A new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday finds two-thirds of Pennsylvania residents don't believe casino revenues will result in significant property tax relief.

The promise of substantial property tax cuts was the big selling point of Gov. Ed Rendell's 2004 plan to bring 51,000 slot machines to Pennsylvania.

Four years later, a majority of Pennsylvania residents have figured out that Rendell's promises have nothing to do with reality.

"Pennsylvania voters are not counting the money they were promised in the form of significant tax cuts paid for by slot machine revenues," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"They do believe Harrisburg will receive a billion-dollar windfall, but they don't expect this money to trickle down to them in the form of significant tax cuts or rebates."

It took awhile, but Pennsylvania residents finally figured out that Rendell is a con artist.

Read the full poll at Quinnipiac University's Web site.

Another interesting story this week says that analysts believe that Rendell's predictions for a potential $3 billion take for the state from casinos was too optimistic. Once all the state's casinos are open, they will start taking business away from each other, thus reducing the state's share of money that is supposed to go to property tax relief.

Did Rendell guess wrong or was he just pulling numbers out of thin air when he sold casino gambling to the state Legislature?

Read Slots revenue predicted to tumble in The Morning-Call.

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