By Mark E. Dixon
My family is fortunate. My wife and I are both working. Our income is higher than that of 93 percent of Americans. The mortgage is paid. We live in one of the country's best school districts. There is money to put our daughters through college. We get chirpy regular reports from our investment manager. We vacationed in Europe this summer. Life is good.
So why is Pennsylvania taking money from less affluent residents to give the Dixons a break on our property taxes?
I'm talking about gambling money. This year, Pennsylvania casinos turned over $776.2 million to the state, which was distributed to homeowners in the form of a (slight) reduction in property taxes, amounting to about $200 per household. In our case, the reduction was $176.78. So we paid the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District $5,128.40 rather than $5,305.18.
Why should we get such a break? (It also occurs to me to wonder why anyone would want to spend less on our children's education, but that's another issue.)
Politicians and other gambling apologists like to cite a 2004 Harrah's survey showing that casino patrons are relatively affluent, with a median household income of $53,204, compared with $45,781 among the general population. So - no big deal, right? The typical gambler isn't poor, but just a regular Joe.
Looked at another way, though, gamblers come from the same hard-pressed middle class whose inflation-adjusted income is down 7 percent since 2000. Dangling riches before people in such circumstances is inherently exploitative, even if they win. And, of course, most don't.
The area's casinos are in Bensalem, Philadelphia, and Chester - where median household incomes are 60, 44, and 29 percent, respectively, of Tredyffrin Township's - for a reason. They're following the trail blazed by state lotteries, on which poor households bet a larger proportion of their income.
Casinos are most beneficial to those who run them. The state priced casino licenses at $50 million, though their value was estimated at $280 million to $550 million. (Translation: Robbing Pennsylvanians was always part of the plan.) The casinos also pay no annual license fees and are exempt from normal liquor licensing requirements.
