01-04-2025
Have Pennsylvania homeowners received 'property tax relief' after legalizing casinos?
(WHTM) — It's been two decades since Pennsylvania legalized casinos with the promise of 'property tax relief' for homeowners. Has that law paid off, and are residents cashing in?
Slot machines have been operating in Pennsylvania casinos since 2006 and online since commonwealth homeowner has cashed in whether they've gambled or not, as 34% of all slot revenue goes to what the original law called 'property tax relief,' now approximately $1 billion. Experts say too few people even know what they're getting.
'I think people heard what they wanted to hear, and I think the nomenclature of 'property tax relief' rather than what it really is, property tax reduction, that is what they heard,' said Doug Harbach, spokesman of the Pennslyvania Gaming Control Board. 'They thought this gambling was going to get rid of my school property taxes. That was never going to be the case.'
Harbach calls it a PR problem, as slots are never specifically mentioned on tax bills. It's oddly called a 'homestead exclusion' and deducted off the top before those bills go out.
'Instead of sending a check out to everybody, now, if I send a check out to everybody from the state, you'd remember getting that,' said Harbach.
Barry Heckard has collected taxes in Mechanicsburg for 32 years. What's the benefit to his residents?
'When it was first started, it was like $120, and now it's up to $160,' said Heckard. 'I don't know what it will be this year, but it's not significant that the taxpayers will notice.'
A Department of Revenue newsletter from 2004 estimated that slots could generate $1 billion a year in property tax reduction, which it is now doing, but a few paragraphs later, it also estimated it would reduce school property taxes by 20%, which is not occurring.
'Well, the average for a homeowner statewide is probably about $350,' said Harbach. 'But because of the equation that's used to deliver money to the school districts, that can vary… Some could be up over $600 per year. It depends on what school district that you live in.'
It also depends on how you define relief. In two decades, slot machines have pumped nearly $7 billion into property owner rebates.
'They could definitely give more than what they're giving,' said Heckard. 'That's just my feeling. I don't think it's enough. I really don't think it's enough.'
Gambling critics in 2004 argued it wouldn't deliver enough. As he signed the Gaming Act into law, then-Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said this:
'It's a wonderful step forward for Pennsylvania. You tell a senior citizen who is making choices between paying property taxes and paying for prescription drugs. You tell her that $500 isn't a lot of money.'
'The program has worked exactly the way it was supposed to work,' added Harbach. Whether average homeowners believe that isn't exactly clear.
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