Realtors® will voice their support of Senate Bill 76 at the Capitol

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The outdoor Real Reform 76 Rally scheduled for April 30 has been cancelled due to severe and unsafe weather conditions. Realtors® are encouraged to attend the Senate Finance Committee hearing on April 30 at 9:30 a.m. in Hearing Room 1 of the North Office Building of the Capitol in Harrisburg.]

The Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® (PAR) is encouraging Realtors® to attend a Property Tax Reform Rally and Senate Finance Committee hearing which will focus on a comprehensive amendment to Senate Bill 76 next week in Harrisburg. The amendment, drafted by Sen. Dave Argall, addresses a number of technical issues with the current language of the bill. The committee will also hear testimony on the current state of sales and use tax revenue collected.

Realtors® will be representing the thousands of homeowners throughout the Commonwealth who are losing their homes or unable to sell their homes due to astronomically high property taxes. “Our members have been hearing first-hand about how property taxes are crippling some communities,” said Kim Skumanick, PAR president. “As we voice these problems in Harrisburg, we’re representing homeowners, from young families who’ve been priced out of the market by high property taxes, to older Pennsylvanians who can no longer afford to live in their homes or sell them because of the insanely high property taxes. It’s simply not fair.”

Senate Bill 76, the property tax reform legislation, is expected to move in the coming weeks, according to Sen. Dave Argall (R-Schuylkill) and Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon), prime sponsors of the bill. Argall said, “We’re close to eliminating this archaic tax and we believe we have the votes in the Senate.”

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Realtors® and SB 76 supporters should show their support at the hearing on Wednesday, April 30 at 9 a.m. in Hearing Room 1 of the North Office Building of the Capitol. PAR will also hold a rally on the front steps of the Capitol at 11:30 a.m. that same day. Please consider attending to show your support of this historic bill. If you aren’t able to attend, please contact your senators and ask them to support this legislation. As you may have heard, a group of special interests recently announced its concerns about SB 76 and is working to derail efforts to pass the bill. Realtors® making their voice heard is incredibly important.

Realtors® have sent nearly 2,900 messages to senators through a call-to-action. In addition, consumers have sent nearly 4,500 emails to senators through PAR’s website, RealReform76.com.

Senate Bill 76 proposes to eliminate property taxes dedicated to school districts and replace the funding by raising the personal income tax from 3.07 to 4.34 percent and increasing and broadening the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent to include previously exempted items. The Senate sponsors have been listening to arguments against the bill and worked to address these concerns in the proposed amendments.

“This is a historic tax shift. And never has a bill been vetted as much as this. We’ve worked through a painstaking process to address these concerns. The bottom line is this bill works… the numbers work,” Folmer said.