Pennsylvania's lawmakers, most of whom are seeking re-election this year, are busy trying to finalize a plan for cutting homeowners' property taxes.

With the primary elections less than a month away, members of the House and Senate want something to brag about as they hope voters' memories are failing them in regard to last year's pay-raise fiasco.

A story in Tuesday's edition of the Butler Eagle said the House and Senate are close enough to agreement on legislation to reduce property taxes that a measure could be voted on next week.

At least that's the word from Republican negotiators; Democrats were saying that an agreement could be delayed if the House GOP continues to push for inclusion of some provisions, including one that could revise the state's funding formula for the 501 public school districts.

Democrats complained that House Republicans continue to insist on more per-pupil funding for growing school districts, which Democrats say should be addressed in the state budget, not in the property tax legislation currently under consideration.

But before property owners become excited about the prospect of a school tax reduction, they should take time to recall the failed efforts of the past.

Meanwhile, significant uncertainties exist within what currently is being discussed in the state capital to cause commonwealth residents to withhold their plaudits for lawmakers until all the details are enacted and are revealed to the public.

As part of the property tax issue, lawmakers still are leaning toward a plan under which voters in each school district would have to vote on whether to introduce a wage tax — a higher wage tax — to raise enough revenue to replace about one-quarter or more of the property taxes paid to the district.

Many people remain suspicious of the prospect of someday paying a higher wage tax and then watching their property tax bill moving ever more close to the rate they were paying at the time of property-tax "reform." They are justified in wondering about the safeguards to prevent that from happening.

Meanwhile, the proposal exists for surplus revenue from the state lottery to be used to expand the state's existing rent and property tax rebate program for low-income senior citizens. Under the plan, both eligibility limits and rebate amounts would go up, and enrollees with the highest property taxes would get more money.

However, lawmakers have acknowledged that if lottery revenues cannot keep up with the seniors' rebates, then gambling dollars available from slot machine gambling would be tapped. And, that could mean less for other homeowners around the state.

Amid all of that is the speculation inside and outside of the state government about whether the money available from slot machine gambling will be as plentiful as Gov. Ed Rendell and many other state politicians have been projecting.

Therefore, headlines and lawmakers' pronouncements that tax reform is at hand should not trigger immediate euphoria. Caution now will prevent big disappointment later if this latest attempt at reform really isn't as good as it is proclaimed to be.

Tax reform is a complex issue. The past has proven that raising taxes and adding new levies are much simpler actions than reforming what is in place.

Whether property owners really are at the threshold of receiving a meaningful tax break is thus not a certainty, despite what lawmakers are saying in these weeks before the first of the two 2006 elections.

The latest effort could turn out to be as bad as the previous failures.