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City Council Proposes Overhaul of Real Estate Tax Payment System With New Discounts and Penalties

Official:Amending Chapter 19-1300 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," by providing discounts and penalties related to the installment payments and new fiscal year billing, and to guarantee that payments are applied to current year tax first to avoid accumulation of additions and penalties.

Sponsor: Councilmember Nutter

Introduced: January 22, 2004

: Committee of the Whole

finance housing taxation

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2004–2007 Council term and when that term ran out. The public record shows no committee vote and no floor vote at any stage, so no member of Council ever went on record for or against it.

That is not unusual here. Of the 8,465 bills introduced between 2000 and 2025, 1,624 lapsed without a single recorded vote. Ninety percent of bills that became law carry a roll call. Three percent of lapsed bills do. How this works.

Plain-Language Summary

This bill proposes to change how Philadelphia calculates real estate taxes and payment deadlines to encourage on-time payments.

What This Bill Does

AI-written. Every figure is checked against the bill text.

Provides discounts for taxpayers who pay real estate taxes in full by a certain deadline, with the discount amount or percentage not specified.
Imposes penalties on taxpayers who fail to pay real estate taxes by a certain deadline, with the penalty amount or percentage not specified.
Changes the order in which payments are applied to current year tax, with payments applied first to current year tax to avoid accumulation of additions and penalties.
Requires that this ordinance applies to taxes due and payable commencing July 1, 2005, unless otherwise provided by special ordinance.