Localmedium impact · 5/10substantive190318

City seeks to stabilize real estate taxes with revenue-neutral rates starting 2020.

Official:Amending Chapter 19-1300 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Real Estate Taxes,” by specifying tax rates for tax year 2020 and thereafter; by providing that each such tax year, Council shall enact a tax rate consisting of a “revenue neutral” tax rate intended to produce approximately the same level of tax revenues as were generated during the prior tax year, and any specified adjustment to the revenue neutral rate as deemed necessary that tax year; and by making technical amendments; all under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember O'Neill

Introduced: April 25, 2019

: Committee of the Whole

finance housing taxation

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 sets a new method for calculating real estate taxes in Philadelphia, starting from tax year 2020. The goal is to keep tax revenues stable and adjust rates as needed each year.

What This Bill Does

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

Replaces the current method of setting tax rates with a "revenue neutral" rate for tax year 2020 and thereafter, which aims to produce approximately the same level of tax revenues as the prior year.
Requires City Council to enact a tax rate each year that is "revenue neutral" unless an adjustment is deemed necessary.
Removes the fixed tax rates that were previously specified for tax years 2014-2019, replacing them with a new method of calculation.
Makes technical amendments to Chapter 19-1300 of The Philadelphia Code.