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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| HOUSE BILL |
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| INTRODUCED BY SACCONE, WHITE, NEUMAN, EVANKOVICH, BLOOM, D. COSTA, P. COSTA, CUTLER, KORTZ, ROCK, SIMMONS AND SWANGER, JANUARY 23, 2012 |
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| REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, JANUARY 23, 2012 |
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| AN ACT |
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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 |
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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. Moratorium. |
21 | (a) Prohibition.--No local taxing authority may undertake, |
22 | on or after the effective date of this section, the process of a |
23 | court-ordered countywide reassessment of real property for |
24 | purposes of levying property taxes; however, counties currently |
25 | conducting a court-ordered countywide reassessment as of the |
26 | effective date of this section may, at the discretion of the |
27 | county, continue the process. |
28 | (b) End of prohibition.--The prohibition under subsection |
29 | (a) shall remain in effect until the General Assembly has |
30 | enacted legislation to address the declarations contained in |
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1 | section 2(1), (2), (3) and (4) or until December 31, 2013, |
2 | whichever comes first. |
3 | Section 5. Effective date. |
4 | This act shall take effect immediately. |
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