Letter to the editor: Vote out legislators who won't end property tax

Gov. Josh Shapiro recently outlined his first budget proposal. He mentioned raising the qualification income bracket to $45,000 from $35,000 for the homeowner/rent rebate program. For homeowners, that’s like putting a Band-Aid on something that requires surgery. Stop paying your property taxes and see who really owns your house and property. They’ll boot you out quicker than a blink of your eye. Yes, even senior citizens, with no mercy at all.

Over two decades ago, the STOP (Stop Taxing Our Properties) campaign proposed legislation that would eliminate all property taxes on primary residences in Pennsylvania. It would have raised the sales tax from 6% to 7%, which they’ve since done. It also would have raised the earned income tax by 1%, and the realty transfer tax by 1%. All Pennsylvania senators voted to initiate a feasibility study on this proposal, and the results came back 100% doable. Of course, they didn’t do anything with that information, not caring for their constituents who elected them.

Now, let’s look 10 years down the road when Social Security and Medicare are expected to go belly-up. Without having income to pay the cursed property taxes, seniors will be fighting to obtain living quarters under one of Pennsylvania’s bridges. There have been proposals to freeze property taxes for seniors, but that will not help the nightmare situation in 10 years.

Property tax must be eliminated on primary residences. If your legislators refuse to keep you in your homes, then vote them out!

Rich Saporito

West Mifflin