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City Council Moves to Shield Affordable Housing Income from Business Taxes Hike

Official:Amending Chapter 19-2600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Business Income and Receipts Taxes,” by adding provisions intended to preserve and expand the provision of affordable rental housing to Philadelphia residents, including, but not limited to, excluding from the definition of “receipts” a portion of the rent received by a landlord for the rental of certain affordable housing units, and excluding certain of the net income attributable to such excluded receipts from the definition of “net income,” all under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Council President Clarke

Introduced: March 7, 2019

housingrental unitstaxation

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2016–2019 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 aims to help preserve and expand affordable rental housing in Philadelphia by exempting a portion of rent from taxes for certain affordable units.

What This Bill Does

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

Excludes a portion of the rent received by a landlord for the rental of certain affordable housing units from the definition of "receipts".
Excludes certain net income attributable to the excluded receipts from the definition of "net income".
Defines an "Affordable Rental Unit" as a residential housing unit located in Philadelphia that is leased to residential tenants at a rental rate that would qualify for the low income housing tax credit program administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
Amends the Business Income and Receipts Taxes chapter of The Philadelphia Code to add provisions intended to preserve and expand the provision of affordable rental housing to Philadelphia residents.