HARRISBURG -- A raucous crowd of protesters spilled from the main staircase and filled the Capitol rotunda yesterday, with hundreds of mostly older Pennsylvanians chanting for lawmakers to "save our homes, save our homes!"

The rally was in support of House Bill 1275, a measure by state Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, to eliminate school property taxes.

Mr. Rohrer would expand the base of the state sales tax by taxing previously exempt services, while raising the personal income tax rate, now at 3.07 percent, to 3.92 percent.

"Thousands of law-abiding homeowners across the commonwealth are being forced into dread, fear and frustration," Mr. Rohrer said.

Mr. Rohrer is a longtime foe of property taxes. In January, he fell well short of garnering support for a similar school property tax elimination bill. That bill also would have raised the personal income tax to 3.92 percent and applied the sales tax to many currently exempted professional services and products.

House Finance Chairman David Levdansky, D-Forward, has opposed Mr. Rohrer's previous legislation, and said he didn't need to see any changes to this "umpteenth" incarnation of the plan to oppose it.

"Look, the bottom line is that Sam Rohrer would rather get sound bites [in the media] than solve a problem," Mr. Levdansky said. "What'd he get on the floor last time, 40-something votes? That's what Sam's plans are always going to get."

Mr. Rohrer said he's changed the bill that was shot down in January, removing some contentious provisions. He would abandon expanding the tax to professional services like architects' and attorneys' fees.

"Sam Rohrer has now found an easy way to raise $11 billion?" Mr. Levdansky asked, referring to how much replacement revenue would be needed to eliminate school taxes.

Chuck Ardo, spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell, said the governor would sign a "reasonable proposal" for eliminating school property taxes only if a mechanism were in place to replace the lost revenue.

"The vast majority [of seniors] got significant tax relief from the gaming revenues, so it's unlikely that seniors across the commonwealth are bearing an undue burden," Mr. Ardo said.