O'PAKE SPONSORS SCHOOL SUPPLY SALES TAX HOLIDAY AND PACE/PACENET BILLS

          Harrisburg, March 26, 2008 -- Separate bills introduced by Senator Michael A. O’Pake would create two one-week sales tax holidays a year on school supplies and make it easier for elderly Pennsylvanians to participate in the PACE and PACENET prescription-assistance programs.
          “We’re in increasingly uncertain economic times, and many families and individuals are dealing with hard financial choices,” the Reading Democrat said. “These bills will give them a break in two areas where it can have a real impact.
          “School supplies and medicines are things that people have little or no choice in – children must go to school prepared if they are going to succeed, and the elderly need to have their prescriptions."                  
          Under the sales tax bill, similar to programs in other states, no tax would be collected on school supplies, including calculators, notebooks and computers that cost less than $1,500 during one week in August and January each year.
          The PACE/PACENET bill would exclude Social Security Medicare premiums from being counted as income in determining whether applicants are eligible for the programs. PACE and PACENET currently include the payments, which cover the costs of Medicare health care, into the eligibility determination.
          O’Pake said he was heartened by support shown for his proposals by Republican and Democratic members alike.
          “Financial hardship is non-partisan,” O’Pake said. “Like the rain, it falls on all of us, and we all need to pitch in to deal with it.”
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