The bet paid off: Pennsylvania's legalized gambling is far from a bust
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When legalized casino gambling was being pushed in Pennsylvania, one of its selling points was sizable tax relief for property owners. But in gambling you put your money down and take your chance -- and that also applies with public policy.
In short, legalized gambling in this state has not lived up to its rosy expectations, which former Gov, Ed Rendell thought would be an average savings on school property taxes of 23 percent. That estimate was down to 15 to 20 percent by the time the Legislature passed the slots legislation in July 2004.
As the Post-Gazette's Mark Belko reported Wednesday, the average savings on property tax statewide will be $198 per homeowner this year, and the percentage of total tax differs from community to community.
A property owner with a $100,000 home in Bethel Park, for instance, is getting a school property tax cut of only 6.5 percent due to casino gambling. In Moon it's 6.2 percent, in McCandless 7.3 percent, in Penn Hills 7.3 percent and in Plum 9.4 percent. Some homeowners do better; in Pittsburgh the reduction is 19.3 percent on a $100,000 house, which works out to $269 in tax savings. But for many people the early promises still fall short.
While it is easy to say that many government estimates turn out to be off the mark, no matter what the issue, that wasn't the only flawed prediction made on legalized gambling. Its opponents said that moral degradation would go hand in hand with property blight if slots were legalized.
While doubtless some problems have occurred, the critics' predictions were no more accurate than the estimates of property tax relief made by politicians and others. After all, nobody ever promised that Pennsylvanians would have all their property taxes taken care of by casinos.
Besides, who would refuse a yearly $198 cut in their property taxes? And how much worse would be the finances of the already strapped city and county if they had to find an extra $5.5 million and $10 million, the respective shares they receive annually for having a casino within their boundaries?
Objecting to the less-than-anticipated tax relief ignores other factors. Pennsylvania is still four casinos short of having the full complement of 14 casinos open and operating under the law, which means that revenue is only likely to rise in the future, particularly after the recession weakens its grip.
When the benefits of the hundreds of new jobs in the gaming industry are factored in, the public bet doesn't seem like such a loser.
First Published February 4, 2012 12:00 am
