O'PAKE SAYS PROPERTY TAX RELIEF FROM GAMING STILL ONLY A START

            HARRISBURG, May 1 - While Berks County homeowners are in line to receive "more than $19 million in school property tax relief this summer" from the first distribution of gaming revenues as announced today, Senator Michael A. O'Pake (D-Berks) said "this still doesn't erase the need to finally eliminate the homeowner property tax as the principal means of school finance in Pennsylvania."

            "While any relief is certainly welcome, and a whole lot better than nothing, Berks County's citizens are demanding -- and rightfully so -- that we remove the albatross of the unfair and antiquated school property tax from the backs of homeowners once and for all," said O'Pake, the Senate Democratic Whip.

            O'Pake is the prime sponsor of a plan (SBs 1163, 1164; 1165) to shift the homeowner school property tax burden to a graduated state income tax only on those with taxable incomes in excess of $100,000.

             He has urged the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Patrick M. Browne (R-Lehigh), to bring his legislation up for consideration.

            In addition, in a recent letter to Browne, O'Pake has also called for action on a House-passed measure (HB 1947) that proposes an amendment to the state's constitution that would allow for the elimination of all homeowner property taxes -- county, municipal and school district.

            "Taxpayers want action and they deserve more of a break than they are getting," O'Pake said.