PRINTER'S NO. 3091
No. 2231 Session of 1984
INTRODUCED BY PITTS, ARMSTRONG, MORRIS, HERSHEY, MOWERY,
FISCHER, GODSHALL, CLYMER, NOYE, ANGSTADT, KASUNIC, SEMMEL,
PHILLIPS, MADIGAN, PETRARCA, KLINGAMAN, COY, GRIECO, BURD AND
HERMAN, JUNE 4, 1984
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, JUNE 4, 1984
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 22, 1933 (P.L.853, No.155), entitled "An
2 act relating to taxation; designating the subjects, property
3 and persons subject to and exempt from taxation for all local
4 purposes; providing for and regulating the assessment and
5 valuation of persons, property and subjects of taxation for
6 county purposes, and for the use of those municipal and
7 quasi-municipal corporations which levy their taxes on county
8 assessments and valuations; amending, revising and
9 consolidating the law relating thereto; and repealing
10 existing laws," providing that certain food storage
11 structures and sheds not be included in determining the value
12 of real estate used predominantly as a farm.
13 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
14 hereby enacts as follows:
15 Section 1. Section 201(a) of the act of May 22, 1933
16 (P.L.853, No.155), known as The General County Assessment Law,
17 amended February 18, 1982 (P.L.79, No.28), is amended to read:
18 Section 201. Subjects of Taxation Enumerated.--The following
19 subjects and property shall, as hereinafter provided, be valued
20 and assessed, and subject to taxation for all county, city,
21 borough, town, township, school and poor purposes at the annual
22 rate:
1 (a) All real estate, to wit: Houses, house trailers and
2 mobilehomes buildings permanently attached to land or connected
3 with water, gas, electric or sewage facilities, buildings,
4 lands, lots of ground and ground rents, trailer parks and
5 parking lots, mills and manufactories of all kinds, furnaces,
6 forges, bloomeries, distilleries, sugar houses, malt houses,
7 breweries, tan yards, fisheries, and ferries, wharves, all
8 office type construction of whatever kind, that portion of a
9 steel, lead, aluminum or like melting and continuous casting
10 structures which enclose, provide shelter or protection from the
11 elements for the various machinery, tools, appliances,
12 equipment, materials or products involved in the mill, mine,
13 manufactory or industrial process, and all other real estate not
14 exempt by law from taxation. Machinery, tools, appliances and
15 other equipment contained in any mill, mine, manufactory or
16 industrial establishment shall not be considered or included as
17 a part of the real estate in determining the value of such mill,
18 mine, manufactory or industrial establishment. No office type
19 construction of whatever kind shall be excluded from taxation
20 but shall be considered a part of real property subject to
21 taxation. That portion of a steel, lead, aluminum or like
22 melting and continuous casting structure which encloses,
23 provides shelter or protection from the elements for the various
24 machinery, tools, appliances, equipment, materials or products
25 involved in the mill, mine, manufactory or industrial process
26 shall be considered as part of real property subject to
27 taxation. No silo, grain bin or corn crib used predominantly for
28 processing or storage of animal feed incidental to operation of
29 the farm on which [the silo] it is located[,]; no shed located
30 on a farm used predominantly for storing farm machinery or
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1 equipment and designed to be readily disassembled and moved to
2 different locations; and no in-ground and above-ground
3 structures and containments used predominantly for processing
4 and storage of animal waste and composting facilities incidental
5 to operation of the farm on which the structures and
6 containments are located, shall be included in determining the
7 value of real estate used predominantly as a farm and the burden
8 of establishing the taxability of any of the afore specified
9 farm related structures shall be borne by the assessing
10 authority: Provided, That for the tax or fiscal year beginning
11 on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
12 fifty-eight, eighty per centum of the assessed value of any such
13 machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment located in
14 counties of the second class as well as in all cities of the
15 third class, boroughs, townships, school districts of the
16 second, third and fourth class, and institutional districts in
17 counties of the second class, shall be considered and included
18 in determining the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or
19 industrial establishment: Provided further, That for the tax or
20 fiscal year beginning on or after the first day of January, one
21 thousand nine hundred fifty-nine, sixty per centum of the
22 assessed value of any such machinery, tools, appliances and
23 other equipment located in said political subdivisions, shall be
24 considered and included in determining the value of such mill,
25 mine, manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further,
26 That for the tax or fiscal year beginning on or after the first
27 day of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty, forty per
28 centum of the assessed value of any such machinery, tools,
29 appliances and other equipment located in said political
30 subdivisions, shall be considered and included in determining
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1 the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or industrial
2 establishment: Provided further, That for the tax or fiscal year
3 beginning on or after the first day of January, one thousand
4 nine hundred sixty-one, twenty per centum of the assessed value
5 of any such machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment
6 located in said political subdivisions, shall be considered and
7 included in determining the value of such mill, mine,
8 manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further, That
9 for the tax or fiscal years beginning on or after the first day
10 of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty-two, no portion of
11 the value of any such machinery, tools, appliances and other
12 equipment regardless of where located, shall be considered and
13 included in determining the value of such mill, mine,
14 manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further, That
15 nothing contained in this section of this act shall be construed
16 as an intent to provide for the valuing and assessing and
17 subjecting to taxation for purposes of any city of the second
18 class or any school district of the first class A any such
19 machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment: And provided
20 further, That such exclusion of silos used predominantly for
21 processing or storage of animal feed incidental to operation of
22 the farm on which the silo is located shall be included in
23 determining the value of real estate used predominantly as a
24 farm shall become effective for taxes to be levied for the tax
25 or fiscal year beginning on or after the first day of January,
26 one thousand nine hundred seventy-four.
27 * * *
28 Section 2. This act shall not be construed to invalidate,
29 repeal or in any way affect any tax exemption granted in prior
30 years on the types of farm structures specifically exempted from
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1 taxation by this act.
2 Section 3. The provisions of this act shall be applicable
3 retroactively to all taxes levied for all tax years beginning on
4 or after January 1, 1984.
5 Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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