Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

In the near future I intend to re-introduce House Bill 1014 of the 2013-2014 Legislative Session, which amends the Taxpayer Relief Act to better clarify the amount and source of school property tax relief.
 
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.  They 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.  Also, the rewritten notice makes clear that it 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.