As a tax-paying Philadelphian, you have a right to know:

The way the City calculates property taxes is inequitable, inaccurate and illegal.

• Inequitable -- studies by independent experts show that lower-valued properties are assessed at much higher tax rates than more valuable properties.  Consequently, residents in struggling neighborhoods pay higher property taxes than they should, while residents in affluent neighborhoods pay less than their fair share.  WHO pays more?  Largely minority property owners.
• Inaccurate -- the City admits that much of the data used to determine taxes, such as lot size and interior square footage, is wrong.
• Illegal -- the assessment system fails the legal tests established by the PA Supreme Court.

For more than 30 years, our elected leaders have been aware of the serious defects in the property tax assessment system and still fail to act.

• In 1981 the Mayor and City Council of Philadelphia entered into a political "deal" that was supposed to correct the systemic problems by equalizing property values over six years.  Over 25 years have passed since the court-ordered deadline in their agreement...and still the system has not been fixed.
• Since then, City Council and the Mayor have heard testimony and reviewed studies over the course of many years that demonstrate the inequities and illegality of the current assessment system.
• Nevertheless, thousands of homeowners continue to unwittingly pay more taxes than they should.  Others who do recognize the manifest injustice of the system choose to resist but become emotionally and financially exhausted -- taking off time from work and, if they can afford it, hiring lawyers at their expense to fight a system that the City knows is illegal.

There is no incentive for City Council to fix the broken assessment system.

• Fixing the system means that some taxpayers (voters) will pay more and some will pay less.  Too many elected leaders would rather keep the system the way it is, because those who will pay more are the voters that these politicians care about -- politically active, politically connected and affluent campaign contributors.  Sadly, most property owners who have been over-assessed for years, primarily hard-working minorities, are perceived to be politically weak and without a voice.
• In addition, many elected officials like the broken system the way it is because it encourages voters to seek their help in order to "fix" their assessments.  Politicians know that anyone whose assessments they can "fix" will become a loyal supporter whose vote they can count on.

The most recent actions of our elected leaders clearly show that they just don’t get it and have no intention of repairing the system any time soon.

• In January 2010, Mayor Nutter announced a "moratorium" on re-assessments that simply froze in place the broken system that we have.  The Mayor said he "could not in good conscience" allow re-assessments using the "garbage" system in place.
• But just a few months later, the Mayor signed-off on a 10% property tax increase based on this "garbage" system, thereby worsening the existing inequalities.
• Meanwhile, the politicians at City Hall tell us that it will take "at least two years" to repair the system.  But there is no binding plan of action in place to accomplish this.  Once again, the politicians are merely passing the buck -- pushing any talk of property tax reform out of the headlines until the next election cycle passes.

Property owners’ credit ratings are being damaged and people’s homes are being taken away based on bogus numbers.

• Owners who can't afford to pay property taxes that the City knows are wrongly calculated are faced with tax liens that ruin their credit.
• Indeed, the City recently referred over 100,000 "delinquent" properties for action by its hired collection agency.
• Some homeowners have already been evicted from their homes or will face eviction for unpaid taxes that were knowingly miscalculated.