PRINTER'S NO. 2128
No. 1663 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY FREEMAN, BEBKO-JONES, BELARDI, BELFANTI, BROWNE,
CAWLEY, CORRIGAN, COSTA, COY, CURRY, DALLY, DeLUCA, DeWEESE,
EACHUS, FABRIZIO, FRANKEL, GEORGE, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HALUSKA,
HARHAI, HARPER, HERMAN, HUTCHINSON, JAMES, KOTIK, LAUGHLIN,
LEDERER, LEVDANSKY, MANN, McNAUGHTON, MELIO, MUNDY, NAILOR,
PETRARCA, PETRONE, PISTELLA, READSHAW, ROBERTS, RUBLEY,
SAINATO, SAMUELSON, SHANER, SOLOBAY, STABACK, STURLA,
TANGRETTI, THOMAS, TIGUE, WALKO, WASHINGTON, WHEATLEY,
YOUNGBLOOD AND YUDICHAK, JUNE 23, 2003
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, JUNE 23, 2003
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of March 11, 1971 (P.L.104, No.3), entitled, as
2 amended, "An act providing property tax or rent rebate and
3 inflation dividends to certain senior citizens, widows,
4 widowers and permanently disabled persons with limited
5 incomes; establishing uniform standards and qualifications
6 for eligibility to receive rebates and dividends; providing
7 for transportation assistance grants and grants to area
8 agencies on aging for services to older persons; and imposing
9 duties upon the Department of Revenue," further providing for
10 the definition of "income."
11 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
12 hereby enacts as follows:
13 Section 1. Section 3 of the act of March 11, 1971 (P.L.104,
14 No.3), known as the Senior Citizens Rebate and Assistance Act,
15 reenacted and amended December 21, 1979 (P.L.570, No.131) and
16 amended March 10, 1982 (P.L.177, No.56) and June 25, 1999
17 (P.L.226, No.30), is amended to read:
18 Section 3. Definitions.--As used in this act:
1 (1) "Income" means all income from whatever source derived,
2 including but not limited to salaries, wages, bonuses,
3 commissions, income from self-employment, alimony, support
4 money, cash public assistance and relief, the gross amount of
5 any pensions or annuities including railroad retirement benefits
6 for calendar years prior to 1999, and fifty per cent of railroad
7 retirement benefits for calendar years 1999 and thereafter, all
8 benefits received under the Federal Social Security Act (except
9 Medicare benefits and any amount deducted from Social Security
10 benefits to pay for Medicare benefits) for calendar years prior
11 to 1999, and fifty per cent of all benefits received under the
12 Federal Social Security Act (except Medicare benefits) for
13 calendar years 1999 and thereafter, all benefits received under
14 State unemployment insurance laws and veterans' disability
15 payments, all interest received from the Federal or any State
16 government, or any instrumentality or political subdivision
17 thereof, realized capital gains, rentals, workmen's compensation
18 and the gross amount of loss of time insurance benefits, life
19 insurance benefits and proceeds (except the first five thousand
20 dollars ($5,000) of the total of death benefit payments), and
21 gifts of cash or property (other than transfers by gift between
22 members of a household) in excess of a total value of three
23 hundred dollars ($300), but shall not include surplus food or
24 other relief in kind supplied by a governmental agency or
25 property tax or rent rebate or inflation dividend.
26 (2) "Household income" means all income received by the
27 claimant and his spouse while residing in the homestead during
28 the calendar year for which a rebate and dividend are claimed.
29 (3) "Homestead" means a dwelling, whether owned or rented,
30 and so much of the land surrounding it, as is reasonably
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1 necessary for use of the dwelling as a home, occupied by a
2 claimant. A homestead shall also include premises occupied by
3 reason of ownership or lease in a cooperative housing
4 corporation, mobile homes which are assessed as realty for local
5 property tax purposes and the land, if owned or rented by the
6 claimant, upon which the mobile home is situated, and other
7 similar living accommodations, as well as a part of a multi-
8 dwelling or multi-purpose building and a part of the land upon
9 which it is built. It shall also include premises occupied by
10 reason of the claimant's ownership or rental of a dwelling
11 located on land owned by a nonprofit incorporated association,
12 of which the claimant is a member, if the claimant is required
13 to pay a pro rata share of the property taxes levied against the
14 association's land. It shall also include premises occupied by a
15 claimant if he is required by law to pay a property tax by
16 reason of his ownership or rental (including a possessory
17 interest) in the dwelling, the land, or both. An owner includes
18 a person in possession under a contract of sale, deed of trust,
19 life estate, joint tenancy or tenancy in common or by reason of
20 statutes of descent and distribution.
21 (4) "Real property taxes" means all taxes on a homestead
22 (exclusive of municipal assessments, delinquent charges, and
23 interest) due and payable during a calendar year.
24 (5) "Rent rebate in lieu of property taxes" means twenty per
25 cent of the gross amount actually paid in cash or its equivalent
26 in any calendar year to a landlord in connection with the
27 occupancy of a homestead by a claimant, irrespective of whether
28 such amount constitutes payment solely for the right of
29 occupancy or otherwise.
30 (6) "Inflation dividend" means an additional amount
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1 calculated by the department in accordance with subsection (a.2)
2 of section 4.
3 (7) "Claimant" means a person who files a claim for property
4 tax rebate or rent rebate in lieu of property taxes and
5 inflation dividend and was sixty-five years of age or over, or
6 whose spouse (if a member of the household) was sixty-five years
7 of age or over, during a calendar year in which real property
8 taxes, rent and inflation costs were due and payable or was a
9 widow or widower and was fifty years of age or over during a
10 calendar year or part thereof in which real property taxes, rent
11 and inflation costs were due and payable, or was a permanently
12 disabled person eighteen years of age or over during a calendar
13 year or part thereof in which real property taxes, rent and
14 inflation costs were due and payable. For the purposes of this
15 act the term "widow" or "widower" shall mean the surviving wife
16 or the surviving husband, as the case may be, of a deceased
17 individual and who has not remarried except as provided in
18 subsection (c) and (d) of section 4 of this act. For the
19 purposes of this act the term "permanently disabled person"
20 shall mean a person who is unable to engage in any substantial
21 gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable
22 physical or mental impairment which can be expected to continue
23 indefinitely, except as provided in subsection (c) and (d) of
24 section 4 of this act.
25 (8) "Department" means the Department of Revenue.
26 (9) "Inflation expenses" means the additional costs of those
27 essential consumer needs of senior citizens in the Commonwealth.
28 Those inflation expenses include but are not limited to the
29 additional cost of medical prescriptions, energy needs,
30 transportation and food and clothing essentials.
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1 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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