LETTER: Where is our town hall meeting?
On Monday, Aug. 11, there is a Town Hall scheduled to discuss property tax elimination at the Monaghan Township Volunteer Fire Co in Dillsburg. It is hosted by Pennsylvania Reps. Marc Anderson and Wendy Fink along with state Sen. Dawn Keefer and former state Rep. Frank Ryan. The social media post states the following:
“This legislative session, PA State Representative Wendy Fink introduced House Bill 1649, which is a comprehensive plan to eliminate school property taxes in Pennsylvania. The current rate at which school property taxes are increasing is unsustainable. If this persists, Pennsylvanians will continue to lose their homes or choose to leave the Commonwealth. The most recent demographic outlook shows a rapidly expanding retiree population whose growing costs fall on a shrinking working-age population. At this Town Hall, we will discuss her legislation with constituents and answer any questions or concerns you have.”
The post also gave a link that taxpayers can visit to get an idea of how their taxes would change under Fink’s legislation. To use this link, taxpayers would need to enter their annual income, property taxes paid annually and retirement income.
Why isn’t this Town Hall being scheduled to discuss this House Bill 1649 with taxpayers in our area? If it wasn’t for a friend sharing this post on Facebook, I wouldn’t know that this Town Hall was taking place.
The No Property Tax website states to ask your legislator to support the bipartisan bill that will eliminate Pennsylvania school property taxes. It also states no tax should have the power to leave you homeless.
I wrote to state Sen. Camera Bartolotta and state Rep. Jason Ortitay asking that they support the bill because no one, especially seniors and those who are widowed, should have to lose their home to this tax, go hungry, live in poverty or become homeless because our elected officials choose not to step up and find other means to fund the schools. The website also states that if property tax elimination is not passed, our property taxes will double in 17 years and triple in 25 years. This is unsustainable. Do something about it now.
Cheryl Bertolino
McDonald