| |
| PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 2989 | PRINTER'S NO. 3218 |
|
| |
| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
| |
| HOUSE BILL |
|
| |
| |
| INTRODUCED BY SACCONE, WHITE, NEUMAN, EVANKOVICH, BLOOM, D. COSTA, P. COSTA, CUTLER, KORTZ, ROCK, SIMMONS, SWANGER, HORNAMAN, RAVENSTAHL AND DEASY, JANUARY 23, 2012 |
| |
| |
| AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, MARCH 14, 2012 |
| |
| |
| |
| AN ACT |
| |
1 | Providing for a temporary moratorium of court-ordered countywide |
2 | reassessments and for reforms based upon study. |
3 | The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
4 | hereby enacts as follows: |
5 | Section 1. Short title. |
6 | This act shall be known and may be cited as the Property Tax |
7 | Reassessment Moratorium Act. |
8 | Section 2. Findings and purpose. |
9 | The General Assembly finds and declares as follows: |
10 | (1) The method of property tax assessment in this |
11 | Commonwealth is fragmented and in need of reform. |
12 | (2) The current method provides for little uniformity |
13 | between counties resulting in vast inequities of property |
14 | assessments across this Commonwealth. |
15 | (3) Further, the tax assessment system provides little |
16 | protection for homeowners who experience sudden and dramatic |
17 | increases in their property assessments as a result of a |
|
1 | countywide assessment. |
2 | (4) Failure to address the problem has led to the |
3 | potential for devastating tax increases that would be harmful |
4 | to the citizens and economic well-being of this Commonwealth. |
5 | (5) A study was conducted of the Commonwealth's property |
6 | assessment system. |
7 | (6) The study addressed the proper policies and |
8 | procedures necessary to ensure uniformity among counties and |
9 | a comparative analysis of the property assessment systems in |
10 | other states. |
11 | (7) The study concluded that changes are needed and the |
12 | General Assembly should enact legislation to address issues |
13 | raised by the study. |
14 | Section 3. Definitions. | <-- |
15 | The following words and phrases when used in this act shall |
16 | have the meanings given to them in this section unless the |
17 | context clearly indicates otherwise: |
18 | "Local taxing authority." Any political subdivision |
19 | authorized to impose real property taxes. |
20 | Section 4 3. Moratorium. | <-- |
21 | (a) Prohibition.--No local taxing authority may court shall | <-- |
22 | order, and no county shall undertake, on or after the effective |
23 | date of this section, the process of a court-ordered countywide | <-- |
24 | reassessment of real property for purposes of levying property |
25 | taxes; however, counties currently conducting a court-ordered |
26 | countywide reassessment as of the effective date of this section |
27 | may, at the discretion of the county, continue the process | <-- |
28 | petition the court to delay the process until such time as the | <-- |
29 | conditions of subsection (b) have been met. |
30 | (b) End of prohibition.--The prohibition under subsection |
|
1 | (a) shall remain in effect until the General Assembly has |
2 | enacted legislation to address the declarations contained in |
3 | section 2(1), (2), (3) and (4) or until December 31, 2013, |
4 | whichever comes first. |
5 | Section 5 4. Effective date. | <-- |
6 | This act shall take effect immediately. |
|
