Posted: | March 24, 2023 02:58 PM |
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From: | Senator David G. Argall and Sen. Wayne D. Fontana |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Ban Spot Appeals of Assessments |
In the near future, we will introduce legislation to eliminate spot appeals of property assessments in Pennsylvania. Some taxing jurisdictions have used their ability to appeal the assessments of properties to such an extent that the practice seems practically indistinguishable from spot reassessment, which is prohibited by law. Spot appeals can increase taxes on residential properties drastically. Two residents shared their experience with us in the past and stated how their taxes were raised through this unfair practice by $8,000 and $6,000, respectively. Furthermore, many property owners fear making any improvements to the exterior of their property due to aggressive spot appeals and higher property taxes. Our legislation will remove a taxing jurisdiction’s ability to appeal the assessment of a property based solely on the sale of the property. Taxing authorities may only appeal an assessment when the property has gone through a countywide reassessment, been divided into smaller parcels, or a change in the productive use of the property has occurred. Article VIII, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution states that taxes shall be uniform. Under current law, two homes built in the same year with the same layout in the same condition could have drastically different local tax bills because of when one property was purchased. Our legislation will seek to restore uniformity and we hope you will join us in co-sponsoring this effort. |
Introduced as SB718