PRINTER'S NO. 941
No. 864 Session of 1979
INTRODUCED BY WAGNER, MARCH 27, 1979
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MARCH 27, 1979
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," excluding solar energy systems in determining
11 the value of real estate.
12 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
13 hereby enacts as follows:
14 Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 201, act of May 22,
15 1933 (P.L.853, No.155), known as "The General County Assessment
16 Law," amended December 14, 1977 (P.L.276, No.90), is amended to
17 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:
23 (a) All real estate, to wit: Houses, house trailers and
1 mobilehomes buildings permanently attached to land or connected
2 with water, gas, electric or sewage facilities, buildings,
3 lands, lots of ground and ground rents, trailer parks and
4 parking lots, mills and manufactories of all kinds, furnaces,
5 forges, bloomeries, distilleries, sugar houses, malt houses,
6 breweries, tan yards, fisheries, and ferries, wharves, all
7 office type construction of whatever kind, that portion of a
8 steel, lead, aluminum or like melting and continuous casting
9 structures which enclose, provide shelter or protection from the
10 elements for the various machinery, tools, appliances,
11 equipment, materials or products involved in the mill, mine,
12 manufactory or industrial process, and all other real estate not
13 exempt by law from taxation. Machinery, tools, appliances and
14 other equipment contained in any mill, mine, manufactory or
15 industrial establishment shall not be considered or included as
16 a part of the real estate in determining the value of such mill,
17 mine, manufactory or industrial establishment. No office type
18 construction of whatever kind shall be excluded from taxation
19 but shall be considered a part of real property subject to
20 taxation. That portion of a steel, lead, aluminum or like
21 melting and continuous casting structure which encloses,
22 provides shelter or protection from the elements for the various
23 machinery, tools, appliances, equipment, materials or products
24 involved in the mill, mine, manufactory or industrial process
25 shall be considered as part of real property subject to
26 taxation. No silo used predominantly for processing or storage
27 of animal feed incidental to operation of the farm on which the
28 silo is located shall be included in determining the value of
29 real estate used predominantly as a farm, and no solar energy
30 hearing or cooling system shall be included in determining the
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1 value of real estate on which it is located: Provided, That for
2 the tax or fiscal year beginning on or after the first day of
3 January, one thousand nine hundred fifty-eight, eighty per
4 centum of the assessed value of any such machinery, tools,
5 appliances and other equipment located in counties of the second
6 class as well as in all cities of the third class, boroughs,
7 townships, school districts of the second, third and fourth
8 class, and institutional districts in counties of the second
9 class, shall be considered and included in determining the value
10 of such mill, mine, manufactory or industrial establishment:
11 Provided further, That for the tax or fiscal year beginning on
12 or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
13 fifty-nine, sixty per centum of the assessed value of any such
14 machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment located in said
15 political subdivisions, shall be considered and included in
16 determining the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or
17 industrial establishment: Provided further, That for the tax or
18 fiscal year beginning on or after the first day of January, one
19 thousand nine hundred sixty, forty per centum of the assessed
20 value of any such machinery, tools, appliances and other
21 equipment located in said political subdivisions, shall be
22 considered and included in determining the value of such mill,
23 mine, manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further,
24 That for the tax or fiscal year beginning on or after the first
25 day of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty-one, twenty per
26 centum of the assessed value of any such machinery, tools,
27 appliances and other equipment located in said political
28 subdivisions, shall be considered and included in determining
29 the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or industrial
30 establishment: Provided further, That for the tax or fiscal
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1 years beginning on or after the first day of January, one
2 thousand nine hundred sixty-two, no portion of the value of any
3 such machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment regardless
4 of where located, shall be considered and included in
5 determining the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or
6 industrial establishment: Provided further, That nothing
7 contained in this section of this act shall be construed as an
8 intent to provide for the valuing and assessing and subjecting
9 to taxation for purposes of any city of the second class or any
10 school district of the first class A any such machinery, tools,
11 appliances and other equipment: And provided further, That such
12 exclusion of silos used predominantly for processing or storage
13 of animal feed incidental to operation of the farm on which the
14 silo is located shall be included in determining the value of
15 real estate used predominantly as a farm shall become effective
16 for taxes to be levied for the tax or fiscal year beginning on
17 or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
18 seventy-four.
19 * * *
20 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days and shall
21 apply to valuations for taxes levied for the calendar or fiscal
22 year beginning on or after January 1, 1979.
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