Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 11, 2022 09:10 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Robert W. Mercuri |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Electronic Lien Filing Modernization |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce legislation to streamline, centralize and modernize the process for releasing taxpayers who have satisfied their tax liens for Commonwealth taxes. Currently, tax liens for unpaid state taxes are filed through a paper-based process of printing and mailing lien forms and satisfaction documents to county courthouses to be filed. Even in normal times, this process is slow and generates expensive fees fronted by tax revenues. A further weakness in this system was exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when taxpayers who satisfied their tax liens were unable to get the necessary documents from the courthouse in a timely manner due to the manual process and workforce constraints during the pandemic. To establish a more efficient and effective process for taxpayers and all Pennsylvanians, my legislation would establish an electronic tax lien filing system and centralized repository. This system, which would be integrated with the new tax system at the Department of Revenue, would generate significant cost savings to the Commonwealth by reducing the number of filing fees that would be required to be paid, while more importantly, enabling taxpayers to search and print copies of liens and satisfaction certificates in a manner far faster than the current paper-based system. This proposal would be solely for state tax liens issued after the effective date of the legislation and makes no changes to the other collection procedures and processes required of other liens that may be issued. The concept for this proposal originated more than eight years ago, when innovative staff at the Department of Revenue were seeking ways to make government more efficient. We estimate the cost savings of this initiative to the Commonwealth at over $5MM over five years. I respectfully ask for your consideration to join me as a co-sponsor of this effort and help bring to fruition changes that are desperately needed to an outdated system. |
Introduced as HB2438