The tax bite is bad and about to get much worse. Statewide, a severe budget shortfall is projected at $1.7 billion for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Gov. Tom Wolf has been proposing a multibillion-dollar tax increase but has met resistance with the Republican-controlled Legislature.Eventually, someone will have to pay the piper, and you can bet your taxes will figure into the answer.Locally, the tax scenario is equally worrisome. Details of an added tax burden are starting to become clear and will surely cause difficulty for many of the elderly trying to stay in their homes.In one municipality, Tamaqua, property owners might be saddled with increases in municipal, school district and county taxes and a sewage rate hike, too.Tamaqua borough will advertise the 2017 budget with a 2-mill tax increase, or $20 more for every $10,000 in assessed property value.This means the owner of a $60,000 house (assessed at $30,000) would pay $60 more per year in borough taxes.But wait, there's the sewer hike, too. The flat rate appears to be going from $65 per quarter to $85. That's another $80 per year for a homeowner, which puts the total burden at an additional $140 per year.But there's more.Schuylkill County is eyeing a 2-mill increase, as well. The proposal would raise county real estate taxes to 15.98 mills, or $15.98 on every $1,000 of assessed value, an additional $60 for the property owner of a house assessed at $30,000.For icing on the cake, the Tamaqua Area School District is looking at a millage increase that would add perhaps $35 to $55 or more to the yearly tax bill.In total, the scenario puts an extra cost burden of about $250 on a Tamaqua homeowner. The actual increase will be higher or lower depending your home's assessed value.The reality is that many local homeowners are elderly and living on Social Security benefits, a fixed income. Those property owners will receive less than a $4 annual increase in their Social Security check for the year.It's easy to do the math and understand how the sharp impact of federal, state and local taxes, plus utilities, might be insurmountable for many homeowners. The costs are placing an extreme hardship on those least able to afford them. In many instances, homeowners already struggle to afford food and medicine. In worst cases, elderly homeowners are forced from their houses, driven out by unaffordable taxes and utilities.It's sad when a homeowner can no longer provide for a roof over his head due to skyrocketing taxes and utility bills. But the pattern shows no signs of abating.British Prime Minister Winston Churchill put it this way: "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."For many in our region, the bottom is falling out of the bucket.The future for many of the working class will be a reluctant move into subsidized housing, paid for, in part, by tax dollars that drained them dry and forced them out.By Donald R. Serfass |

dserfass@tnonline.com