PRINTER'S NO. 255
No. 238 Session of 1985
INTRODUCED BY A. C. FOSTER, JR., FRYER, GRUITZA, STUBAN,
CAPPABIANCA, GREENWOOD, GEORGE, LIVENGOOD, DOMBROWSKI,
KUKOVICH, FEE, E. Z. TAYLOR, PETRARCA, PRATT, BOWSER,
CORDISCO AND SIRIANNI, FEBRUARY 11, 1985
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 11, 1985
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 and wind energy systems in
11 determining the value of real estate.
12 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
13 hereby enacts as follows:
14 Section 1. Section 201(a) of the act of May 22, 1933
15 (P.L.853, No.155), known as The General County Assessment Law,
16 amended October 11, 1984 (P.L.866, No.167), is amended to read:
17 Section 201. Subjects of Taxation Enumerated.--The following
18 subjects and property shall, as hereinafter provided, be valued
19 and assessed, and subject to taxation for all county, city,
20 borough, town, township, school and poor purposes at the annual
21 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 equipment for solar or wind energy including
28 collectors, controls, energy storage devices, pumps, heat
29 exchangers, fans, pipes, ducts, windmills, rotors, shafts,
30 generators, mounting towers and other hardware or equipment
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1 necessary to the process by which solar radiation or wind is
2 received and converted into another form of energy, such as
3 thermal, electrical, mechanical or chemical, when used as a
4 supplemental energy source shall be included in determining the
5 value of real estate on which it is located. No silo used
6 predominantly for processing or storage of animal feed
7 incidental to operation of the farm on which it is located, no
8 free-standing detachable grain bin or corn crib used exclusively
9 for processing or storage of animal feed incidental to the
10 operation of the farm on which it is located, and no in-ground
11 and above-ground structures and containments used predominantly
12 for processing and storage of animal waste and composting
13 facilities incidental to operation of the farm on which the
14 structures and containments are located, shall be included in
15 determining the value of real estate used predominantly as a
16 farm: Provided, That for the tax or fiscal year beginning on or
17 after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred fifty-
18 eight, eighty per centum of the assessed value of any such
19 machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment located in
20 counties of the second class as well as in all cities of the
21 third class, boroughs, townships, school districts of the
22 second, third and fourth class, and institutional districts in
23 counties of the second class, shall be considered and included
24 in determining the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or
25 industrial establishment: Provided further, That for the tax or
26 fiscal year beginning on or after the first day of January, one
27 thousand nine hundred fifty-nine, sixty per centum of the
28 assessed value of any such machinery, tools, appliances and
29 other equipment located in said political subdivisions, shall be
30 considered and included in determining the value of such mill,
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1 mine, manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further,
2 That for the tax or fiscal year beginning on or after the first
3 day of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty, forty per
4 centum of the assessed value of any such machinery, tools,
5 appliances and other equipment located in said political
6 subdivisions, shall be considered and included in determining
7 the value of such mill, mine, manufactory or industrial
8 establishment: Provided further, That for the tax or fiscal year
9 beginning on or after the first day of January, one thousand
10 nine hundred sixty-one, twenty per centum of the assessed value
11 of any such machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment
12 located in said political subdivisions, shall be considered and
13 included in determining the value of such mill, mine,
14 manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further, That
15 for the tax or fiscal years beginning on or after the first day
16 of January, one thousand nine hundred sixty-two, no portion of
17 the value of any such machinery, tools, appliances and other
18 equipment regardless of where located, shall be considered and
19 included in determining the value of such mill, mine,
20 manufactory or industrial establishment: Provided further, That
21 nothing contained in this section of this act shall be construed
22 as an intent to provide for the valuing and assessing and
23 subjecting to taxation for purposes of any city of the second
24 class or any school district of the first class A any such
25 machinery, tools, appliances and other equipment: And provided
26 further, That such exclusion of silos used predominantly for
27 processing or storage of animal feed incidental to operation of
28 the farm on which the silo is located shall be included in
29 determining the value of real estate used predominantly as a
30 farm shall become effective for taxes to be levied for the tax
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1 or fiscal year beginning on or after the first day of January,
2 one thousand nine hundred seventy-four: And provided further,
3 That such exclusion of free-standing detachable grain bins and
4 corn cribs used exclusively for processing or storage of animal
5 feed incidental to operation of the farm on which the grain bin
6 or corn crib is located shall become effective in determining
7 the value of real estate used predominantly as a farm for taxes
8 to be levied for the tax or fiscal year beginning on or after
9 the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-five.
10 * * *
11 Section 2. This act shall apply to valuations for taxes
12 levied for the calendar or fiscal year beginning on or after
13 January 1, 1986.
14 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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