 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Gov. Ridge signs biggest tax cut in Pennsylvania history
Thursday, May 25, 2000 By Peter Jackson, The Associated Press
HARRISBURG -- As if on cue, the rain clouds yielded to blue sky and a warm sun shone yesterday as Gov. Ridge signed a $775 million, election-year package of tax rebates and reductions for citizens and businesses.
The bill, which takes effect July 1, represents the most generous tax-relief initiative in the state's history and marks the sixth consecutive year of tax cuts for the Republican administration.
"This budget doesn't just set a new tax-cut record," Ridge said, "It literally blows the old record off the map."
At a news conference on a concrete pavilion next to the Capitol, Ridge signed a 10-foot-tall mock-up of the legislation. Using both hands to steer a 7-foot pen, manufactured for the occasion by the Hanover Pen Co. in York County, he wrote his signature with impressive clarity.
"We practiced yesterday," explained Tim Reeves, the governor's press secretary.
Prior to the news conference, Ridge signed the $20 billion state budget that will finance the operations of state government for the next fiscal year and boost spending for many services, including public schools, state-supported universities, local fire companies and programs for retarded Pennsylvanians.
The biggest portion of the tax-relief package -- $330 million -- is earmarked for one-time, $100-per-household rebates for 3.3 million homeowners for property taxes they have paid to their local school districts. Applications for the rebate will be mailed to most homeowners in early June, the filing deadline is July 7, and the checks are expected to go out this fall before the Nov. 7 election.
"They can use it on their priorities -- start a savings account, use it for a home repair, or a much-deserved night out for mom and dad," said Ridge, who was flanked by the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House appropriations committees. "It' s up to you -- it's your money."
The rebates will be subject to federal taxation for homeowners who itemize their returns, but Ridge said he does not expect many complaints.
"I don't think anybody is going to turn it back," he said.
The applications will include a personal identification number that applicants will need to file by telephone or computer.
Homeowners whose names are not on the county lists, and those on the county lists who do not want to file electronically, must file paper applications and attach a copy of a receipt or some other written proof that they paid school taxes on property that they own and live in.
The state Department of Revenue is expected to have an extensive question-and-answer page about the rebate program on its Web site before the end of the week. The department's Web address is www.revenue.state.pa.us.
It plans to have information on the Internet by June 5 at www.100dollars.state.pa.us about applying for the rebate and filing electronically.
Leaders of the Democratic majority in the state House of Representatives, who had pushed for a more permanent property-tax relief program, circulated a package of newspaper clippings about recent increases in property-tax rates levied by school districts across the state.
"In many districts, the average property-tax increase will exceed the $100 rebate," read a brief cover letter that accompanied the Democrats' package.
Despite the partisan rhetoric, many Democrats joined the Republican majority in enacting the tax-cut and budget bills last week.
Other provisions of the tax-cut bill will reduce the state's capital stock and franchise tax -- the first step in a decade-long phaseout of the unpopular tax on business' assets -- and a reduction in the inheritance tax.
Also included are a pair of weeklong "holidays" from the state's 6-percent sales tax -- in August and again in February -- for purchases of home computers, and an expansion of the state's program to forgive income taxes for low-income families to include an additional 56,000 households.
|
||||||||
