HARRISBURG – As a part of her ongoing effort to curb the burden of school property taxes, Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) today introduced a measure to codify the original intent of the Gaming Act.
The senator’s proposal would amend the Gaming Code by adding language that requires all new revenue generated from the expansion of gaming into the Property Tax Relief Fund.
“One of the promises made was that gaming would relieve or potentially eliminate our local property taxes, and nothing could be further from the truth,” Phillips-Hill said. “I believe it is important in government that when promises are made, promises are kept. There is no bigger issue that I hear about from constituents than how big and how burdensome their school property tax bills are.”
The Gaming Act was originally intended to provide the residents of Pennsylvania with property tax relief through the use of slot machines as a source of new revenue for property tax relief. At that time, the commonwealth estimated $1 billion in annual revenue would be generated for property tax relief, a figure which has never been realized.
Senate Bill 417 was referred to the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee for its consideration.