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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
09/27/2024 06:04 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20230&chamber=H&cosponId=42213
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House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: February 29, 2024 10:35 AM
From: Representative Bud Cook and Rep. Robert W. Mercuri, Rep. Jack Rader, Jr.
To: All House members
Subject: Reforming and Streamlining the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program
 
The Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program provides critical relief for low-income senior citizens and those with disabilities. Since 2006, the program has assisted 8.7 million applicants and returned $4.1 billion to low-income individuals.

In 2022, as inflation hit record highs not seen in a generation, the General Assembly provided a one-time additional property tax/rent rebate payment for hard-hit, low-income senior citizens and those with disabilities. This statute, Act 54 of 2022, was the first increase in the benefits provided for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program in more than 15 years.  The General Assembly followed up that legislation with Act 7 of 2023 to provide additional relief on an ongoing basis. 

This legislative package is designed to bolster the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program and ensure that it benefits those who truly need the program in the most efficient way possible.
 
 



Document #1

Introduced as HB2134

Description: DOCUMENT #1 - Representative Bud Cook
Eliminating unnecessary paperwork for applications for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program.

Every year, low-income senior citizens and those with disabilities are required to fill out their property tax/rent rebate application form. Much of the form is duplicative to other forms that these applicants have sent to the Department of Revenue for their personal income tax paperwork. This is unnecessarily onerous on the applicants and duplicative for the Department of Revenue.

Under this proposal, the Department of Revenue would be required to provide an option for taxpayers to simultaneously apply for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program when filing annual returns for personal income tax.

Further, the Department of Revenue has extensive data on taxpayers’ income, which is useful for quickly determining eligibility. Under this proposal, the Department of Revenue would be required to send prior rebate recipients a copy of the application form that is pre-filled with information that is already known to the department.
 
 
 

Document #2

Introduced as HB2125

Description: DOCUMENT #2 - Representative Robert Mercuri
Establishing mandatory processing timelines for property tax/rent rebates.

Many of us have spent the last year with our offices inundated with requests to help our constituents check the status of their Property Tax/Rent Rebate applications, with many of them taking several months to be approved and paid out to our constituents.

The Department of Revenue typically states that its staff need a week to process and approve an application. However, it has been our practical experience that most applications can take a month or longer to be approved and for the rebates to be deposited in an applicant’s account. 

My proposal would require the Department of Revenue to make a determination on a completed Property Tax/Rent Rebate application within 10 business days of receipt of the application.  If this timeline is not met, the application would be deemed approved, and the Property Tax/Rent Rebate payment would be paid out of the Department of Revenue’s operating budget.
 
 
 

Document #3

Introduced as HB2129

Description: DOCUMENT # 3 - Representative Jack Rader
Extending the deadline for filing property tax/rent rebate applications.
 
Under current law, the Secretary of Revenue is authorized to extend the deadline for filing property tax/rent rebate applications past the June 30 deadline to December 31, if funds are available to make the payment. The extension of this deadline has happened for at least the last 20 years.  Even though this extension has become routine, those who rely on this program should not have to play a guessing game to see if they have until December 31 to apply each year.

My proposal would remove this meaningless deadline and set the deadline for December 31 every year. This will remove the annual suspense over whether the secretary will extend the deadline and provide consistency for applicants.
 
 
 

Memo Updated: February 29, 2024 10:47 AM