Property Tax Reform (Pottstown, Washington, McDonald: public school, zip code, reassessment)

[squarian]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

I was recently looking at Allegheny County millage rates.... what the hell is up with McDonald?

I think the footnote must have something to do with it: " Municipal and School District Taxes in McDonald and Trafford Boroughs are not based on current Allegheny County assessed property values. Contact your municipality and school district for these values."

So probably McD's prop values are "un-reassessed" very-low Wash Co values?


Allegheny County Treasurer

[squarian]

The Philadelphia Inquirer finally picks up on it: afaik, this is the first story on HB 1776 and/or SB 1400 the paper has run.

[squarian]

From David Davies via Keystone Politics, the intriguing possibility that a PA Supreme Ct ruling will make it easier for municipalities & school districts to challenge non-profit property exemptions:

The new ruling effectively restores the narrower criteria for charity status...Philadelphia officials say they plan to review the tax-exempt status of some of the city's largest nonprofits in a wake of the state Supreme Court decision. The city used to get several million dollars a year from nonprofits.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by squarian

From David Davies via Keystone Politics, the intriguing possibility that a PA Supreme Ct ruling will make it easier for municipalities & school districts to challenge non-profit property exemptions:

Would be nice if they taxed Pitt. That place is just another business that is for sure. Not CMU though. They don't do all the sports and such, they still focus on the academic stuff.

[HeavenWood]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Would be nice if they taxed Pitt. That place is just another business that is for sure. Not CMU though. They don't do all the sports and such, they still focus on the academic stuff.

Pitt is no more of a "business" than CMU. In fact, a good number of Pitt programs (particularly those in the liberal arts) are actually far stronger than CMU's.

[bmantz65]

Allegheny County Councilman Bill Robinson warned today that another tax increase for Allegheny County could happen next year: Allegheny County could face another property tax increase, councilman warns - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

- Proposal to raise property taxes by as much as one mill. Would bring county millage to 6.69
- Cutting or eliminating the $15,000 homestead exemption

[squarian]

Increasing amount of reporting on HB 1776 (Property Tax Independence Act):

Jonathan Humma at Pennlive notes Moody's endorsement and its calculation that "more than 130,000 jobs would be created in three years as homeowners would be able to spend their $10 billion in property taxes on goods and services".

The North Penn Indian Valley Reporter calls the bill "the best hope in years to accomplish the task of eliminating the property tax"

Rep. Stephen Bloom, writing in the Carlisle Sentinel, calls the bill "an exciting new initiative" which has already attracted "more than 60 co-sponsors, including representatives from both sides of the political aisle".

Meanwhile, the Pottstown Mercury, Delaware County Daily Times (http://delcotimes.com/articles/2012/05/08/news/doc4fa7e06f7e92f266707909.txt - broken link), Allentown Morning Call, Columbus (IN) Republic, and Chambersburg Public Opinion all ran coverage of the Capitol rally in favor of the bill yesterday.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by bmantz65

Allegheny County Councilman Bill Robinson warned today that another tax increase for Allegheny County could happen next year: Allegheny County could face another property tax increase, councilman warns - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

- Proposal to raise property taxes by as much as one mill. Would bring county millage to 6.69
- Cutting or eliminating the $15,000 homestead exemption

I thought our region was doing better. Didn't we just have a 22% increase? Now no homestead? Sure is interesting. Less service, more run down streets and more and more taxes. It is getting to be more clear to me that living in Allegheny County will no doubt become not worth it. With school taxes increasing every year and Allegheny County increasing every year, there is really no way to budget your money around here. It is clear I am in for a $10K plus property tax. I don't think I am going to throw away almost a grand a month to live here. Question is, what direction to head out of this county. I think I better start a new thread on that one.

[squarian]

Keystone Politics raises the elephant in the room question: should liberals back HB 1776?

On the one hand, we really should want to see school funding moved to the state level....On the other hand, the land tax is easily the best tax for funding public services.

(My own view is that ending the zipcode lottery in PA, as an issue of social fairness and utility, offsets almost any downside. I don't see any problem with the downside mentioned in the KP article, though perhaps a stronger argument against is the regressive nature of sales taxes. On the third hand, prop taxes are also regressive, and Allegheny Co's tribulations raise the possibility that no amount of well-intentioned tinkering will make assessments substantially more fair. Given that trade-off, I'll happily accept the great good of equal education funding for the lesser evil of a slightly regressive funding mechanism.)

[BrianTH]

Shifting school funding to the state's general tax mix and then shifting the remaining local property taxes to a land-value tax (which I understood that author to be proposing) would not necessarily end up regressive on net.