Pennsylvania School Taxes

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by furboll

Local income tax is what you pay to township/borough you live in and work in. That gets taken out of every pay check. Per capita gets mailed out to the individual as well where they offer a "rebate" for paying it early. School taxes get sent to you no matter where you live, how you live (rent or own) and no matter how long you lived there. If you own a house more likely part of your mortgage payment goes to escrow which your mortgage company uses to pay school taxes.Which is why the payments get adjusted after every year. If there is surplus (ha!) they send you a rebate check, but if there is a shortage (always is) then your payments go up. As a matter of fact I just sent my statement to my mortgage company, because PA out of all 50 states has the most screwed up (501 of them) school districts.

I've encountered plenty of stories from people that have lived somewhere temporarily but still get the full tax bill because of the address they use. The amount varies based on the school district. I most expensive I've heard of is Hershey. That's why some people wait until June/July to move because it depends on the school district you move to or from.

When Rendell was governor one of the things he wanted to do was get eliminate the local tax collectors because of all the inaccuracies that were happening and people (especially if they didn't own property) wouldn't always pay them. If you have a house they can put a lien on it. But if you rent, move around a lot, or live with someone there isn't as much recourse for collecting payment except wage garnishment if they can find you.

I personally went through this myself. When I bought my house I had already paid the school tax in the previous township I lived in where I was renting. But the township I moved to kept sending me the bill (with penalties) saying that I had to pay them for taxes for a period when I didn't even live in the township. Longer story short, after over a year and half and lots of phone calls and letters I ultimately had the tax collector (who my neighbors swore was the sweetest lady) come to my house and even she didn't understand how the mix up happened. In the end she ended up taking care of it.

Oh yeah my neighbors who thought the tax collector was the sweetest lady, it happened to him a few years later.

You still haven't answered why you had to pay your landlord's annual property tax to the school system which, as you say, is often collected as part of a mortgage escrow.


I think you're talking the various per capita taxes that both school systems and boros levy on people.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by furboll

School taxes get sent to you no matter where you live, how you live (rent or own) and no matter how long you lived there. If you own a house more likely part of your mortgage payment goes to escrow which your mortgage company uses to pay school taxes.

If you're talking about Philadelphia, I think you're incorrect. Both of my sons rented apartments and houses in Philly over the course of several years, and they never had to pay school (real estate) taxes. These taxes were paid by the owners of the properties, not the renters.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by LibraGirl123

If you're talking about Philadelphia, I think you're incorrect. Both of my sons rented apartments and houses in Philly over the course of several years, and they never had to pay school (real estate) taxes. These taxes were paid by the owners of the properties, not the renters.

It's a bit confusing as PA has 2 forms of school taxes (well, not all of PA, but most of it).

1) Regular school district taxes paid by the landowner.

2) The local school tax, which is collected by the local tax authority.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by blazerj

It's a bit confusing as PA has 2 forms of school taxes (well, not all of PA, but most of it).

1) Regular school district taxes paid by the landowner.

2) The local school tax, which is collected by the local tax authority.

The second is what I think furboll is talking about. He hasn't been back to clarify it since a couple of us questioned his direct payment of property taxes as a renter. That would be a deal as a landlord, charge market rate which would likely include the property tax, have your tenant pay it himself and you can still take the deduction.

[Magalsix]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

Ok, I'm trying to make the point that rent is RENT. It is not paying taxes. If I owned a huge house on L.I. and the only way I could afford to pay my taxes was to sell drugs, does that mean the people who buy the drugs I'm selling pay property tax???

Correct!