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Philadelphia Real Estate Taxes Now Based On Previous Year's Accurate Assessments Or Last Year's Value

Official:Amending Title 2 of The Philadelphia Code, Entitled, “City-County Consolidation,” Chapter 2-300, “Property Assessment,” by adding new language to Section 2-305, “Office of Property Assessment; Chief Assessment Officer; Powers And Duties,” requiring that real estate taxes imposed by Title 19 Of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Finance, Taxes And Collections,” Chapter 19-1300, “Real Estate Taxes,” be levied on the assessed value of taxable real property as established for the immediately preceding stated year in any year in which the audit provided for under Subsection 2-305(2)(s) finds that overall property assessments in the City do not meet industry standards for accuracy, all under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember Oh

Introduced: January 23, 2020

: Committee on Finance

housing taxation

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2020–2023 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 requires that real estate taxes be levied on last year's assessed value if an audit finds property assessments are not accurate.

What This Bill Does

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

Requires that real estate taxes be levied on the assessed value of taxable real property as established for the immediately preceding year, rather than the current year.
This change only applies in years when an audit finds that overall property assessments in the City do not meet industry standards for accuracy.
The audit is required to be conducted by an independent firm, as mandated by Subsection 2-305(2)(s) of The Philadelphia Code.
The change does not specify any financial impact or costs associated with implementing this new requirement, but it may affect the revenue generated by real estate taxes.