Whirlwind week advocating for real property tax reform

It’s been a busy week in Harrisburg as the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® (PAR) continues its support of Senate Bill 76, the Property Tax Elimination Act. Throughout the week, I’ve been reminded why this issue is so important. I’ve heard many stories, as I’m sure many of you have, of how these absurdly excessive school property taxes are hurting Pennsylvanians. Property taxes affect more than just senior citizens. We’ve also seen young families unable to achieve the American dream of homeownership because excessive property taxes more than double their mortgage payments. Couples want to down-size but can’t, because buyers can’t afford the property tax on their house. And seniors who’ve worked to pay off their home, now realize they can no longer afford to pay the astronomical property taxes.

We were asked to speak about Senate Bill 76 on a popular central Pennsylvania radio talk show on Monday morning. Chuck Liedike, Real Reform 76 campaign manager, and I were guests on WITF public radio’s Smart Talk. We talked with radio host Scott LaMar about the issue and explained why property tax reform is so important to property owners, home buyers and Realtors®.

Later that day, I was part of a panel with several Senate Bill 76 co-sponsors as they conducted a press conference on the bill. Television station and newspaper reporters, along with several political bloggers, covered the event. Sen. Dave Argall, a prime sponsor of the bill, noted that the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® has been key in advancing this legislation.

While I was in Harrisburg, one more senator announced he was signing on to support Senate Bill 76. Pennsylvania’s newest senator, Scott Wagner (R-York) became the 26^th sponsor of the Property Tax Elimination Act. We now have 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats sponsoring the bill – that’s bipartisanship!

Wednesday morning, Realtors® and supporters of Senate Bill 76 packed the Senate Finance Committee hearing, which focused on a comprehensive amendment to the bill. A special shout out to the Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors® who filled a bus with dozens of their members to attend the hearing.

During the hearing Argall and Sen. Mike Folmer presented the amendment to the bill which addresses concerns voiced about the bill. Argall said, “Over the past four months, our offices met with various groups opposing this legislation. Several groups gave us specific changes to strengthen the original proposal. We were able to adopt many of the suggestions from those groups, over eight pages of clarifications by the Department of Revenue, concerns from the City of Philadelphia and suggestions from other senators.

“Other interest groups continue to believe the status quo, this archaic and unfair school property tax, is an appropriate way to fund our public schools. I have to believe that the representatives of those groups have never, ever, attended a town hall meeting in Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, or Schuylkill counties,” he added, referring to his senatorial district. Argall ended with, “No tax should have the power to leave you homeless,” which received a rousing round of applause from the audience.

Folmer followed up by saying, “By passing Senate Bill 76, we have the chance to make the entire state a Keystone Opportunity Zone.” He received applause when he noted the long list of citizen groups from across the state that have helped to craft Senate Bill 76.

I was interviewed by both television and newspaper reporters about PAR’s support of this historic property tax reform and I’m convinced, as both Argall and Folmer have said, we’ve never been closer to passing real property tax reform in our Commonwealth.