Oppose the Funeral Tax

Sue Henry has a famous name and a bumper sticker issue in her challenge to Eddie Day Pashinski. Her issue is eliminate property taxes but HB 76 does no such thing.It just moves taxes from the wealthy property owners to working people.  The response should be to oppose the expansion of the sales and income tax such as a NEW TAX on Funeral Services of 7%.. It will also tax food and clothing for the first time.

 No one wants to see a senior lose their  home as we are told  but I've never seen any data to support the allegation that seniors lose there home more than other people that fall behind on their taxes. In fact people over 65 and the disabled get a rebate up to $650 to offset the tax. I would like to see it applied up front so they don't have to wait for the money after they paid the bill.

I'm getting to be a senior and know how much a funeral can cost since I have had  to plan a few. I read obituaries all the time that ask for a donation to a Go Fund Me page to pay for the funeral service, burial and marker. Sadly, many of the deceased left us way before they should have because of overdose, murder, car crashes, etc. Young people for the most part don't have Life Insurance and the family should not be burdened with an additional cost such as a sales tax.

Pennsylvania exit poll

A grand total of only two poll workers was outside the Plains Twp. firehall when I was recorded as voter number 146 out of 1000+ at about 4:30PM today. This is the worst turnout I have seen in the 15 years I  have voted in this precinct. It's hard to say who's campaign this helps or hurts but it means we are all losers when so few people bother to participate in the process of selecting our leaders. The poll workers are people Mrs. G has known since she was a child and looked us up as soon as we walked up to the sign in table so we didn't show a photo ID. We capped off the afternoon of doing our civic duty by paying our property taxes at the collectors office. We turned around our IRS refund by using that money to pay the county and township taxes. Great timing.

Gatorade and corporate welfare

WRIGHT TWP. — Construction of Pepsi’s 500,000-square-foot Gatorade distribution center began in November...The $37 million capital investment by Pepsi will add 93 new jobs to a workforce of 236 already employed at the company’s manufacturing plant in the park. State, county and local taxing authorities agreed to tax incentives to ensure the project.

Just how much Incentive did PepsiCo get. Under the terms of the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance plan, the county would waive an estimated $52,741 in annual property taxes per year between 2010 and 2016....Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development granted $1.25 million for the project, primarily in infrastructure costs for roads. Luzerne County donated a $100,000 grant to the project....The seven-year LERTA will reduce property taxes for Pepsi by about 50 percent and kicks in after the Keystone Opportunity Zone status expires in three years. KOZ sites have temporary state and local tax breaks. The combined tax breaks guarantee Pepsi reduced tax status for 10 years. Rapid Edward tells us that The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce supported efforts to obtain a $1.25 million funding offer for the project from DCED that includes a grant of up to $1 million through the Infrastructure Development Program and a grant of up to $250,000 through the Opportunity Grant Program.

I just got my county/municipal property tax bill for 2007 and will pay the full amount. We've done many improvements to the property over the years keeping local contractors busy without any government loans or tax breaks. How did we do it? Remember this and all the other sweetheart deals when you get your new valuation if the reassessment is ever done.

Capitol Ideas suggests a payoff may be involved:

What the statement failed to mention is that Rendell will now have 36 cases of Diet Pepsi delivered to the governor's mansion each week until he leaves office.