I have just two words for you as the state careens toward a looming budget deadline at the end of the month.
Table games.
Don’t bet the house against them. A few years ago Gov. Ed Rendell ushered in a new era of legalized gambling to combat skyrocketing property taxes.
Now the state finds itself staring down the barrel of one of the worst budget crises in recent history. Pennsylvania is more than $3 billion in the hole. State workers might be looking at payless paydays. Budgets are being slashed in just about every department. There’s even talk of what was once considered unthinkable – tax hikes.
Rendell will hold a summit with his Cabinet this afternoon and then make a budget statement.
In the meantime, the talk of adding table games to the state’s slots parlors will not go away.
The latest to chime in is Republican Senate leader Joe Scarnati. He also serves as lieutenant governor, which gives him Rendell’s ear.
The arithmetic is pretty simple.
“Here we are with over $3 billion and a few hundred million in the hole, looking to fill that hole, and I think that we need to look at whatever options, non-tax options, there are,” Scarnati said.
Notice the key words there: Non-tax options.
That kind of limits the field. Rendell is talking about a temporary tax hike, possibly hiking either the sales or personal income tax.
When’s the last time you remember a tax hike that was temporary? Thought so.
Greg Fajt, the new boss at the state Gaming Control Board, paid a visit to Harrah’s in Chester last week, and he also seemed open to at least considering the idea of adding table games.
This one is a matter of when, not if. The state is swimming in red ink.
No one wants to raise taxes in one of the worst economies in recent memory.
That doesn’t leave a lot of options.
Me? I’m betting on table games.
Table games.
Don’t bet the house against them. A few years ago Gov. Ed Rendell ushered in a new era of legalized gambling to combat skyrocketing property taxes.
Now the state finds itself staring down the barrel of one of the worst budget crises in recent history. Pennsylvania is more than $3 billion in the hole. State workers might be looking at payless paydays. Budgets are being slashed in just about every department. There’s even talk of what was once considered unthinkable – tax hikes.
Rendell will hold a summit with his Cabinet this afternoon and then make a budget statement.
In the meantime, the talk of adding table games to the state’s slots parlors will not go away.
The latest to chime in is Republican Senate leader Joe Scarnati. He also serves as lieutenant governor, which gives him Rendell’s ear.
The arithmetic is pretty simple.
“Here we are with over $3 billion and a few hundred million in the hole, looking to fill that hole, and I think that we need to look at whatever options, non-tax options, there are,” Scarnati said.
Notice the key words there: Non-tax options.
That kind of limits the field. Rendell is talking about a temporary tax hike, possibly hiking either the sales or personal income tax.
When’s the last time you remember a tax hike that was temporary? Thought so.
Greg Fajt, the new boss at the state Gaming Control Board, paid a visit to Harrah’s in Chester last week, and he also seemed open to at least considering the idea of adding table games.
This one is a matter of when, not if. The state is swimming in red ink.
No one wants to raise taxes in one of the worst economies in recent memory.
That doesn’t leave a lot of options.
Me? I’m betting on table games.
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