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Property Owners Can Now Use 2009 Transfer Tax Payments Against Annual Real Estate Bills

Official:Amending Chapter 19-1300 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," by providing that a portion of realty transfer tax paid may be taken as a credit against real estate taxes, all under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember Clarke

Introduced: December 4, 2008

: Committee on Finance

finance housing taxation

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2008–2011 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 allows property owners who paid realty transfer tax in 2009 to use a portion of that tax as credit against their annual real estate taxes over five years.

What This Bill Does

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

Allows property owners who paid realty transfer tax in 2009 to use a portion of that tax as credit against their annual real estate taxes.
The credit is limited to the lesser of a specific dollar amount (not specified in the text) or the amount of realty transfer tax paid.
The credit can be applied over a five-year period, with one-fifth of the total credit being applied against real estate taxes due in each of the five years.
The credit "runs with the property", meaning that if a property is transferred, successor owners may take the remaining credit amount.