Perzel keeps pushing
for property tax relief

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

State Rep. John Perzel is enlisting the help of local senior citizen leaders to help pass a bill that will eliminate school property taxes for eligible homeowners age 65 and older.
Perzel (R-172nd dist.) last week spoke with the heads of various senior groups during a breakfast meeting at Moonstruck, a restaurant at 7955 Oxford Ave. in Fox Chase.
At issue is the fate of his Older Pennsylvanian Property Tax Elimination Act. It would eliminate property taxes for seniors with annual household incomes of $40,000 or less.
The initiative would cost about $1 billion per year and would be paid for by revenue from slot machine parlors.
The measure passed by a vote of 159-36 back in January. It was supported by Perzel, Speaker Dennis O’Brien, Republican Reps. Tom Murt, George Kenney and John Taylor and Democratic Reps. Mike McGeehan and John Sabatina Jr. It was opposed by Democratic Reps. Larry Curry, Tony Payton, Mark Cohen and Dwight Evans.
The legislation was sent to the House Finance Committee, where it remained until being approved on July 3 by a 27-1 vote.
A vote by the full House is pending, since members are on summer break until mid-September.
"I hope to build enough pressure between now and then," Perzel said.
The session will be a short one, as members will break again before the Nov. 4 election. They could return briefly after the election. The legislative session officially ends on Nov. 30.
Even if the House gives final approval, it has an uncertain fate in the Senate and with Gov. Ed Rendell.
According to Perzel, who joined the House in 1979, the original goal of property tax relief was to help senior citizens, not the general population.
It’s unfair for seniors to fund public education when they don’t have any children in school, he said.
Besides, he argued, there isn’t enough money to provide meaningful tax relief for all Pennsylvanians. He suggested that the sales or personal income taxes would have to be increased to fund an across-the-board property tax reduction.
The bill would help more than 600,000 senior homeowners throughout Pennsylvania, including about 140,000 in Philadelphia. The average savings would be almost $2,000 a year.
Perzel said he expects the bill to become law if legislators have a chance to vote on it, based on the original House tally.
"This thing passed big," he said.
While Philadelphia lawmakers are blocking the opening of two slots parlors along Delaware Avenue, gaming is going well in other areas of the state.
Perzel said he expects slots revenue to continue to grow, meaning the state will be able to increase the $40,000 income limit to make more seniors eligible for the tax elimination.
At his July 30 session with seniors, he asked them to lobby state legislators for passage of the bill. His staff is preparing petition forms for senior groups, which typically take off in the summer and resume meeting in September.
Perzel believes timing could work in his favor. Last month, a state grand jury indicted 12 Democrats — including a state representative and a former House minority-party whip — in an alleged scheme to pay bonuses to legislative aides for performing work on political campaigns.
The indictment, in Perzel’s opinion, will force members of the legislature, both Democrat and Republican, to try to win back the people’s trust.
"Because of that, they’re going to want to do initiatives that are populist," said Perzel, who was House speaker when legislators approved their infamous middle-of-the-night pay raises three years ago.
Perzel counts the Older Pennsylvanian Property Tax Elimination Act as a populist initiative. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com