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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 11, 2017 09:21 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative David M. Maloney, Sr. |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Constitutional Amendment Homestead Exclusion - former HB 147 |
| In the near future I plan to reintroduce legislation to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to provide more significant residential property tax reductions statewide. In order to provide significant property tax relief, modifications to the Pennsylvania Constitution's Uniformity Clause are necessary to supply the means to deliver such relief. Currently, the Pennsylvania Constitution allows local taxing authorities to exclude from taxation up to 50% of the median assessed value of homestead property within the taxing district. "Median assessed value" is the middle value of all the homesteads in a taxing district when you put them in numerical order. The simplest way to understand this - if you have three properties, one worth $100,000, and another worth $200,000 and the last worth $150,000 when you place these values in numerical order, the "median assessed value" would be $150,000. While this is the current mechanism to provide residential property tax relief, it is inadequate as it caps the amount of relief that can be provided. My legislation will amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to allow local taxing authorities to exclude from taxation up to 100% of the assessed value of the homestead property receiving the exclusion. This provision, if adopted, will improve upon an already established property tax relief mechanism by allowing for the elimination of residential school property taxes via the homestead exclusion. Last session, this legislation, as HB 147, was passed and filed in the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, June 16, 2016. As with all amendments to the Constitution, this language must be passed by the General Assembly in two consecutive legislative session. I hope you will join me in sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB1285