House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	December 14, 2016 12:47 PM
From:	Representative Eddie Day Pashinski
To:	All House members
Subject:	Co-Sponsor – Clarifying Gaming-Funded School Property Tax Relief Notices

In the near future, I intend to re-introduce legislation (former House Bill 207 of 2015) which would amend the Taxpayer Relief Act to better clarify the amount and source of school property tax relief on school district tax notices received by taxpayers. As has become evident through conversations with my constituents, school property tax notices poorly explain the extent to which school property taxes have been reduced through proceeds of slot machine gaming. These notices are written in unclear statutory language instead of words the average Pennsylvanian can easily comprehend. Therefore, my bill rewrites the notice of property tax relief required in Section 343 in a conversational tone and requires that it be conspicuous on the notice. The rewritten notice also makes it clear that the taxpayer’s property tax reduction is separate from, and may be reduced or offset by, tax increases approved by elected school directors. While I expect the debate regarding the overall effects of gaming to continue, we can agree that our constituents must be well-informed regarding the amount by which their school property taxes are reduced – and how the funds for that reduction are generated. I hope you will join me in this effort to bring more transparency to our school property tax collection process and increase accountability for the tax reductions generated by our casinos.

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