PA House Republicans Looking to Increase Taxes on Individuals

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has once again taken up the issue of school real estate taxes. Debate will resume when House members return to session on Monday, January 28.

The central bill under consideration is House Bill 1600, sponsored by Representative David Levdansky (D-Allegheny). This legislation is intended to reduce school property taxes substantially without broadening the sales tax base; however, Representative Sam Rohrer (R-Berks) will offer an amendment to that bill which will expand the sales tax to professional services.

But, somewhat ironically in a bill intended to reduce the tax burden on individuals, Rohrer's bill will exempt businesses from the new tax on professional services. So, businesses that need to hire a lawyer, for example, will not have to pay the sales tax. But, everyone else, that is to say, you and me, who might need, say, a lawyer for criminal, divorce, custody, estate, personal real estate issues, etc., will be subject to payment of the sales tax. (Representative Rohrer's original piece of property tax reform legislation, upon which the amendments are based, is HB 1275.) (Oh, yeah, contingent fee (personal injury) cases are also excluded.

Taxpayer groups (umm, real-estate-tax-payers groups), are putting much pressure on House members to accept the Rohrer amendment. To contact your rep and voice a concern over this latest attempt to impose a penal regressive tax on the middle and lower classes, you can use the House email list.

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Public Hearings on Expansion of PA Civil Rights Bill

The Pennsylvania House State Government Committee has set two public hearings on HB1400.

That bill extends the right to freedom from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity or expression".

The following public hearings are set on this important bill:

Pittsburgh
Date: Thursday, October 4
Time: Noon
Location: Cathedral of Learning (on the University of Pittsburgh campus)
Room CL 2017
5th Ave & Bigelow

Erie
Date: Friday, October 5, 2007
Time: 1 pm
Location: Raymond M. Blasco, M. D. Memorial Library
160 East Front St.

You can use this link to get the email addresses of your State Representative. HB 1400 has decent support, but it would be helpful for you to contact your representative and urge them to support the bill.

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PA House Bill Would Cost PA Drivers about $7.3 Billion

Here's an idea -- if our law enforcement DUI efforts are insufficient, if our public education efforts fail, if our children are not properly sensitized to drunk driving issues, and we run out of ideas to fix a problem, why not make all of the other other drivers who aren't a problem pay about $5.7 $7.3 BILLION to fix it?

Yeah, that's the ticket. From the Wilkesberry Times Leader:

A bill sent to the state House Committee on Transportation Friday would require a breathalyzer ignition system be installed in new cars sold within the state and retrofitted into existing cars.

House Bill 875, sponsored by Bucks County Democrat [Republican] Paul Clymer, would require an ignition interlock system in every motor vehicle manufactured for use in Pennsylvania on or after Dec. 31, 2008. The law would also require vehicle owners to retrofit their cars with the system by Dec. 31, 2009.

There are about 6 7.7+ million passenger cars registered in the Commonwealth. The devices cost between $700 and $1200 -- an average of $950. At the average expense, the bill for fitting the devices on all registered passenger vehicles in the state would be about $5.7 $7.3 Billion. At the uppermost estimate of $1200, this indirect tax would exceed $7.9 $9 Billion.

Oh, that's JUST BRILLIANT.

{UPDATE: My figures on PA passenger vehicle registrations were a little dated. As of 2005 there were over 7.7 million passenger vehicles registered in the Commonwealth. So the headline should read $7.3 Billion.}

{Photo Credit: Pile of Cash, Collections with Causes}

NOTE:Please update to the NEW URL NOW:

www.abigfatslob.com

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DeWeese Hurt Caltagirone's Feelings

The Inky reports the real motivation behind Caltagirone's antics -- he's got teary eyes because DeWeese wouldn't support Caltagirone for a House leadership position in the Democratic caucus:

The story of why a Democrat from Reading decided to back Republican Rep. John Perzel's desperate bid to remain House speaker goes no deeper than revenge, according to some Democrats. "It's personal, pure and simple," said State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), explaining why a 30-year incumbent says he will turn his back on fellow Democrats, throw his lot in with the opposition, and help reelect Perzel today as speaker. Democratic State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, 64, thought he deserved a leadership job after the November election gave the Democrats a 102-101 majority . . . . DeWeese of Greene County, disagreed. The result . . . was Caltagirone's . . . voting for Perzel as speaker when the Legislature convenes today. "DeWeese did not back him for leadership. That's how this started," Vitali said.

There's more.

{UPDATE: From the AP -- "Newly seated members of the state House of Representatives, in a surprising turn of events, replaced Speaker John Perzel with another Philadelphia Republican, Dennis M. O'Brien, after Democrats were unable to maintain unity in their fragile majority."}

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On the Stank from Harrisburg

Great editorial from today's Pocono Record:

Pray for the wind to stay out of the northwest. If it shifts to the south, the stench of Pennsylvania politics may be overwhelming.

Berks County is within smelling distance. That's the home of Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone, who is scheduled today to take part in an act of calculated political treachery.

Caltagirone is a Democrat, at least for the moment. But he has said he will vote today for Republican John Perzel for speaker of the House of Representatives in Harrisburg. . . .

The idea Perzel and Caltagirone both supported in 2006 was a middle-of-the-night pay raise for legislators. Caltagirone not only voted for that raise, he was one of the legislators who grabbed it immediately through the device of unvouchered expenses. That's a long story. The short version: Caltagirone and Perzel are in favor of government of the legislators, by the legislators, for the legislators.

And one man is going thwart the hopes of hundreds of thousands of voters. He is going to substitute his personal agenda for a public agenda that called for change. . . . This is one of those back-room deals the electorate was hoping to scuttle. It's the same kind of backroom deal that led to legislators giving themselves a raise most voters don't think they earned, politics as usual.

Voters didn't throw enough of the rascals out this time . . . .

There's more.

The Inky is live blogging the ordeal at Battle for the Gavel and you can catch the shenanigans live on-line via our friends at PCN Online. Or, just open your windows -- as long as you can tell Republican moans from Democratic ones, you'll know what happened just a quickly as anyone else.


(Image Credit: www.the-tree.org)

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Protest Rally at Caltagirone Office Tuesday

As you have likely heard by now, Democratic Representative Tom Caltagirone of Berks County has announced his intention to support Republican John Perzel for the position of Speaker of the House. His own statement confirms that this is the result of a deal he cut with Perzel.

In the midterms, the voters in Pennsylvania opted for a change in direction, and gave the Democrats a one-vote majority in the state House. Caltagirone is, in the words of State Dem Chair Rooney, a "power-hungry politician", leveraging his deciding vote in order "to feather his own nest by selling out the party".

On Tuesday, the State Democratic Party is planning a protest rally at Caltagirone's office in Reading, at 3 pm. His office is located at 645 Penn Street in Reading. (The timing is curious -- it is after the reconvening of the House on Tuesday, when the vote will take place, and Caltagirone will presumably be in Harrisburg on Tuesday.)

If you cannot attend the rally, (or even if you can) email Caltigrone at tcaltagi@pahouse.net.

Caltagirone, you might recall, was minority leader when Hazleton's Tom Stish switched parties (from D to R) to deprive Caltagirone of the majority leader position. Stish was thrown out of office in the very next election.

His contact info:
Hon. Thomas R. Caltagirone
645 Penn Street, 2nd Floor
Reading, PA 19601
(610) 376-1529
Fax: (610) 378-4406

Hon. Thomas R. Caltagirone
Room 106 Irvis Office Building
PO Box 202127
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2127
(717) 787-3525
Fax: (717) 772-5401

{Ed note: In their rush to get the email out, the State Dems misspelled Caltagirone's name as Caltigirone. I picked up the same error and have now fixed it in my post.}

{UPDATE: Demonstrating the ineptness and sloppiness endemic to the State Democratic Party, and no doubt not a little responsible for the difficulty in holding power, it seems, subsequent to the email that I received from the Party, on which this post was premised, they issued a revised release in which they corrected the spelling of Caltagrinone's name and changed the rally date.

The rally was changed from the original Tuesday to Monday, the 1st. Unfortunately, the change came too late for me to change the blog entry and misdirect both readers (actually, that particular entry received numerous hits). No doubt thanks in part to the Democratic screw-up in the email notice, the rally attracted only about 50 people (most of whom apparently had been planning the trip for unrelated purposes anyway).

Nice going, TJ.}

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