Let’s Hold Them Accountable

Now that the tea party and Republicans have taken back the House and control Harrisburg, let’s hold them accountable.

We want jobs, jobs, and more jobs.  We want jobs in Pennsylvania that employ Pennsylvanians.

Maloney promised to finally get rid of our property taxes.  We want no more property taxes. 

Toomey promised American jobs.  We want jobs in Pennsylvania and not jobs off shored to another country.

Gerlach promised jobs.  We want jobs in Pennsylvania and not jobs off shored to another country.

Corbett promised to not raise taxes.  We don’t want any more money taken out of our pay checks to bail out the State.

Republicans promised that they will reduce the deficit without touching our Social Security.  We will hold them to that.

Republicans promised to lower taxes for EVERYONE.  We will hold them to that.

They have two years to deliver:

• Jobs, jobs and more jobs
• No more property taxes
• Deficit reduction
• Lower taxes

We don’t want to dismantle the health care reform.  We want either single payer or public option health care to replace mandatory private insurance.

We don’t want to spend two years wasting tax payers money on frivolous investigations.  We want Congress to work on jobs and more jobs.

We don’t want our Social Security handed over to Wall Street.  We want the Government to honor their promise to our seniors and to not use Social Security to reduce the deficit.

We don’t want endless wars.  We want our troops home NOW.

We don’t want bank bailouts.  We want responsible bank and Wall Street regulations.

We don’t want to keep drilling deeper and deeper for oil and gas which destroys our environment.  We want renewable energy like wind power and solar power.

We don’t want to keep supporting big agriculture which sends us dangerous foods.  We want safe food, produced by local farms.

Two years… that’s all they have.

Don’t spend it all in one place…

Pennsylvania slots will bring a whopping $169.00 in school tax relief according to an article published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

While the size of property tax reductions from slots revenue will vary among 500 Pennsylvania school districts, $169 is the average amount of relief statewide when school property tax bills go out in July, Michael Masch, state budget secretary, said yesterday. In Philadelphia, the slots money will go to lower the city’s 4 percent wage tax rather than property taxes.

Since the money will go directly to the school district, the taxpayer won’t exactly see the money. What they should see is a reduction in their school tax.

The State will be sending out notices to some taxpayers. Since many homeowners have mortgages, they won’t see a reduction in their tax escrow account until next year. Yeah, you heard me next year. That’s because banks and mortgage companies collect the taxes one year in advance. Homeowners that have their taxes escrowed will have to contact their lender to find out how much of a tax break they will receive.

The law slapped a 34 percent tax on the gross terminal revenue from the casinos, a levy that has generated $661 million in property tax relief for the fiscal year that begins July 1, Mr. Masch said.

Of that amount, $612 million will go for “general, broad-based property tax relief” for home and farm owners under age 65. The other $49 million will be used for property tax relief and rent rebates targeted just for senior citizens (age 65 and older) with incomes no more than $35,000, he said.

The amount available for seniors’ tax relief is actually $173 million, with the other money million coming from the state lottery fund, as in the past. Because of slots, the number of seniors getting tax relief will almost double, to 600,000, and the maximum tax relief will jump from $500 to $650.

You can read the article in its entirety here…

Looks like the slots won’t be putting tax dollars directly back into home owner’s pockets. If you are looking for a Government handout, you will have to wait for that “stimulus check” . With the cost of oil, that “stimulus check” might help a teeny bit with the upcoming Winter’s heating costs.