HARRISBURG Homeowners probably cheered Tuesday when Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a $3.8 billion property tax relief plan he said would return an average of $1,000 to them, but some lawmakers don't believe the hype over one of the governor's top budget priorities.

"It looks to me like bait and switch," said state Sen. David Argall, a Schuylkill County Republican who has been pushing for the elimination of the school property tax.Here's why he feels that way: Wolf's plan calls for increasing the personal income tax and raising the sales tax and applying it to a broader base to pay for the property tax relief a strategy that's actually used in Argall's property tax elimination legislation but it doesn't prevent school districts from raising property taxes in the future.Eventually, taxpayers might watch as their property tax bills creep back up, but they'd also have the higher sales and income taxes to contend with if that happens. They'd always be wondering, Argall said, what about next year?"He's talking about a permanent increase in income taxes, a permanent increase in sales tax, but only a temporary decrease in property taxes," Argall said.Pennsylvanians who want property tax relief have been burned before. Former Gov. Ed Rendell and lawmakers promised big breaks from casino revenue. That didn't pan out average homeowners receive just a $200 break and there's a sense from some the state is heading down the same path with Wolf's proposal."I don't see anything that prevents school districts from increasing property taxes. That is the problem with tax shifting. The 'tax relief' promised from gambling never materialized because property taxes continued to escalate," said Nathan Benefield, vice president of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank.When asked directly whether there was no guarantee that school districts wouldn't raise property taxes in the future, Wolf's budget secretary, Randy Albright, didn't answer the question. He instead responded that "the same Act 1 requirements that are in place now will stay in place."Albright was referring to a 2006 law known as the Taxpayer Relief Act. That law is designed to protect taxpayers from higher school property taxes by allowing them to vote on proposed increases that exceed a state-imposed cap known as an "index" for their district.That "back-end referendum" would stay in place, Albright said. That might not bring much solace to taxpayers, considering the state provides several exceptions that allow school districts to avoid putting tax increases that exceed the cap on the ballot. For this school year alone, 164 schools were granted exceptions, 163 of them for pension obligations.The administration isn't recommending any changes to that process, but will ask school districts to spend down reserves that have become "excessive in some isolated circumstances," Albright said."We tell school districts you need to spend down those fund balances first before you're allowed to raise property taxes," Albright said.While ardent proponents of property tax elimination, such as Argall, were left disappointed, other lawmakers saw promise in Wolf's property tax relief plan. That included state Sen. John Yudichak, a Luzerne County Democrat who supports Argall's property tax elimination legislation."This would be the first sustainable, responsible, major property tax cut in the history of Pennsylvania. We certainly need to have a discussion and a debate on it," said Yudichak, who has clamored for property taxrelief for senior citizens for years.Wolf's budget would push the state's share of education funding past 50 percent, cutting in half the property tax bills of average homeowners, the governor said."This will ease the burden on low-income and middle-class homeowners, and it will bring some much-needed relief to seniors living on fixed incomes, some of whom have been forced to leave homes they have lived in their entire lives simply because they cannot afford higher property taxes," Wolf said during his budget address. "In fact, under my plan, many senior citizens will see their property taxes eliminated altogether."Even though Wolf is proposing raising other taxes, most families including homeowners earning up to $100,000 would pay less under his plan, according to the administration.Net tax relief would be most pronounced for families of four that own a home and have an annual income of $36,000, according to an infographic released by the governor. While raising the personal income tax, Wolf's proposal would exempt those families from paying the levy. Those households, essentially affected only by the sales tax increase, would see a 70 percent net tax cut, according to the infographic.Families with an income of $50,000 would receive a net cut of 16 percent, while those with an income of $75,000 would receive an 8 percent tax break.The savings for families that own a home and have incomes of $100,000 are paltry, according to Wolf's graphic. They would get a tax break of just $7, as lower property taxes would be offset by the higher sales tax and income tax.Wolf's plan is ambitious, especially considering property tax reform has been a vexing issue for decades, largely because it is a local tax that varies widely across the state.As state Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, put it, $3.8 billion in relief is "huge." But that's still not enough for Argall, who'd like to see Wolf take his proposal a step further."I still think the key is the complete elimination of the school district property tax," Argall said. "Drive a stake through its heart so it never, ever comes back."