In today’s world scandal and gossip seems to travel faster then the speed of light, and good news, well that can be hard to get a hold of sometimes.
Yesterday I received a check in the mail for $420 from my bank, it was an overage from them calculating my taxes because the Homestead Tax Relief Act had kicked in. Simply put, I finally got my “casino discount”. If your taxes are not escrowed in(mine are), or are already calculated with this discount(mine were not) then instead of a refund you would just not be paying that money up front. So next year, I will just pay that much less in taxes and might even get a greater discount depending on how the casino does.
So the question is, did you get a break this year? Are you eligible? And why is no one talking about this?!
It all begins with the Mount Airy Casino and Resort which opened up a little over 2 years ago, and although it was surrounded by scandal and controversy, it still was a welcomed addition to the Poconos. Many of the resorts of the Poconos of the past have shut down, been knocked down, or reinvented in some form. Mount Airy Casino and Resort was previously Mount Airy Lodge which was 100+ years old, but that’s a story for another day.
With the opening of the casino, and all of the additional revenue that it was now providing for the state I had heard through the grapevine that some of it would be put back into the community in the form of tax relief.
I only live about 10-15 minutes from the casino, in the same township so I was for sure certain that I would be available for some sort of tax break. So I called the person who I assumed would know the most about it – my tax collector. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “Hey I heard that with the casino going in that we should be getting some sort of tax cut”
Woman who answered: “I haven’t heard anything about that”.
Me: “Are you sure? I know it’s a small cut but I’m almost positive I should get something”
Woman: “Nope”
So I figured it must have been hearsay, I mean the people who I pay my taxes to would be aware of a tax break right?
A few months passed and I received my tax bill in the mail. I didn’t see any type of discount so I once again made a call to my tax office and asked them again. The person who answered again told me they didn’t know anything, after hanging up I decided to call back again and just make sure. I talked with a different woman who said that I should contact my county assessment office if I want to find anything out.
After a few phone calls I talked with a woman who explained to me that the color of your tax bill shows whether the “Homestead Act” is in effect on your bill. I am a bit fuzzy on the colors but I think it’s black if it is not in effect and red if it is in effect. By looking at the color of my tax bill I was able to determine that I was definitely not getting a tax break. After a few questions(township, school district) she told me that I was indeed eligible for the Homestead Act. Ok, so what the heck is the homestead act anyway?
The Homestead Act is quite deceiving until you read the fine print, it sounds like something for farming or agriculture or something, but look:
Homestead Tax Relief Act
The Taxpayer Relief Act special session Act 1 of 2006 was signed into law by Governor Rendell on June 27, 2006. Act 1 required each school district to appoint a tax study commission to make a non binding recommendation regarding additional earned income tax or a personal income tax to fund homestead/farmstead exclusions. As part of the 2007 primary election, a referendum question must be approved to levy, assess and collect on earned income tax or a personal income tax to fund the homestead/farmstead exclusions. Act 1 also provides school districts the means to lower property taxes by using the funding that may be provided using gaming revenues.
Ah ha! There it is! Tax relief from the casino, I knew it existed! Yet I didn’t get a letter, I didn’t get a phone call and I had to get the run around for months regarding this situation, when all along I was eligible for a tax break!!!
The website states that you will receive a letter, so the question is, did you receive this letter? I sure as heck didn’t, nor did any of my neighbors or friends I talked to. I mean it’s essentially free money, you think they’d have billboards up right? Maybe I got lost in the bunch, who knows, but now you know and maybe you’re eligible too.
2 Things of Importance regarding this:
1) You MUST submit the application prior to March 1st, if not you can submit it but you won’t see that deduction for another year(which is what happened to me the first year).
2) You must actually be eligible. If you live near the casino you are most likely eligible, but even if you’re not it’s worth a shot to at least ask right?
To apply you simply need to fill out a form and mail it in. You can get the form on this page: Homestead Tax Relief Act page where it says “download the application and instructions”.
It seems a bit deceiving and the wording makes it seem like you need to own a farm or something, but that is definitely the form.
I am personally putting that money straight back into the bank to pay for next year’s taxes, even though there was a reduction with the casino there was still a few hundred dollar increase over the previous years taxes as they continue to increase each year.
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