Let's make gamble of parenthood pay off
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Sometimes the connection between a front-page story and one in the Magazine section isn't immediately obvious, but I see the potential for property tax relief in this new craze for "gender cake reveal parties."
For those who missed Wednesday's paper, I'm referring to the parties prospective parents throw to find out, along with their friends and family, whether their baby will be a boy or a girl. It works roughly like this: After getting a sonogram, parents ask the ultrasound technician to keep the child's sex type a secret by placing it in a sealed envelope. That's brought to a baker who reads it to see whether to tint the inner batter or icing of a cake pink or blue.
Then the couple throws a party. Guests make their guesses on the big question and -- oh, the irony -- a cake is cut to end the mystery about a bun in the oven.
I don't know that I'd want so many people around when I learned something as important as which restroom my child is destined to use, but these revelation parties do sound more bearable than most baby showers. Rather than an endless series of "Awwwwww" and "How sweet" as bibs are unwrapped, these parties offer prime opportunity to get a bet down.
That's what had me circling back to the front-page story, "Gambling revenue's impact on school taxes questioned." It seems Pennsylvanians, though losing money to casinos at a heroic clip, just aren't losing it fast enough to provide the property tax relief the state's homeowners desire.
State revenue from slot machines last year hit $1.3 billion, with some $818 million of that diverted for school tax relief. Ordinarily, nobody would dare put an "only" before such numbers, but former Gov. Ed Rendell had predicted the schools' take would be $1 billion a year.
Alas, the state has sliced casino revenue like a deli ham. So, though this year we will attract more losers -- excuse me, let me rephrase that in Harrisburgese: Though we will become second only to Nevada in gross gambling revenue, we have some disappointed homeowners in "Las Vegas East."
First Published February 2, 2012 12:00 am
