Needless to say, the world’s economy is struggling as countries try their level best to contain the coronavirus pandemic. In the United States, a huge chunk of the population has been forced to stay at home and a considerably huge fraction of these people have lost their jobs. Already, lots of people have filed for unemployment and thankfully, the federal government has been trying to come through for them.
Unfortunately, the relief funds are not enough to offset some of the expenses that the country’s residents have to deal with. Such things as rent, insurance, food, mortgages, medical expenses, and power bills among other things have become very hard to deal with for most people.
In the Keystone State, more help may finally be on the way thanks to a recent proposal by Senator Doug Mastriano. His bill, Senate Bill 1117, arrived earlier this week and it is looking to ease the strain Pennsylvanian renters are facing. He wants the state to consider utilizing sports betting taxes from the general fund to sort out property taxes.
“With a mandated shutdown of businesses that are not ‘life-sustaining,’ many Pennsylvania families find themselves out of work with no income and have voiced concern about paying their property taxes. It is imperative that we help our citizens now during their greatest time of need, and temporarily re-allocate sports betting revenue toward property tax relief.”
Senator Doug Mastriano.
His website details a number of other issues he believes need to be given a lot of attention.
Could It Work?
While the idea certainly sounds very promising, it will still need to pass through several different stages. For now, it has been forwarded to a committee concerned with gambling activities in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Senator Mastrian hopes to find co-sponsors.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic and the crisis that ensued, the Keystone State’s sports betting was on the rise. In fact, it was one of the fastest-growing markets in the United States. As such, some lawmakers began to propose ways of utilizing tax revenue from the industry to benefit the residents of the state. The first of these proposals was an amendment to Title 4 (Amusements) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.
This proposal was unveiled at the beginning of the year by Rep. Tina M. Davis and it hoped to extend the scope of state’s existing Property Tax Relief Fund. That said, Senator Doug Mastriano’s proposal might just have enough backing to help it see the light of day.
There will, of course, be a number of concerns with one of the most obvious being the understandable poor performance of the sports betting sector. States have either shut down or postponed sporting activities bringing sports betting to a standstill. Hopefully, the stakeholders reach a workable solution very soon to help people ride out the pandemic.