A22-Lancastar Fanning, Saturday, November 1, 1997
(Continued from Page A 1)
chance for tax reform will die at
least for the next decade.
Jere Swarr, a Rapho Township
farmer from Manehim, was a guest
presenter. He said the need for tax
reform in the agriculture commun
ity is a more recent problem
because the assessed value of the
land is not necessarily the value the
farmer can get as income from that
land.
“The farmers are paying on the
assessed value, which is very
high,” Swarr said. “But the income
that can be generated cannot sup
port those high values. The real
value of the farm is the income a
farmer can produce. Any tax
reform will be helpful to Lancaster
County, and the whole ag land pre
servation movement and the ag
zones and urban growth bounda
ries. Everything ties together. I
really believe we must support our
Broad Support For Homestead
Exemption Referendum
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Faming Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Support for approval of a
proposed Homestead Exemption
ballot question Tuesday has been
widespread.
Every major agricultural organi
zation has sent press releases and
made statements declaring support
of the referendum which would set
up the go-ahead for state legisla
tors to change the Pennsylvania
Constitution to allow for different
taxing of homes the Constitu
tion requires all real estate to be
taxed at the the same level.
The referendum is to appear on
the ballots Tuesday, Nov. 4,
accross the state.
There are other Constitution
changing questions to be asked of
voters on Tuesday —do they
want to change the structure of the
state pardons board? (making it
harder to get pardoned); and, do
voters want to make it easier to
vote by absentee voting methods?
The Homestead Exemption
question has been at the forefront
of interest by agriculture and gov
ernmental officials, because it is
being seen and promoted as the
first step toward true local tax
reform.
The basic ideology of local tax
reform would be to allow each loc
al taxing authority the ability to use
a mix of taxes that would better
reflect local ability to pay taxes.
As it is, there are few options,
but increasingly diverse economic
makeups across the state.
Further, as land preservation has
become a greater issue, and taxa
tion of properties of those with set
incomes has increased, concern
has grown statewide about the
restrictions on taxing authorities.
It has become widely apparent
that the taxing laws have become
an obstacle in the attempt to pro
vide a sense of fairness in taxation.
Those in agriculture should be
familiar with the state’s Clean and
Green preferential taxation law,
which also required a change in the
state Constitution.
Clean and Green allows the
property to be assessed for agricul
tural value, instead of straight
market value, or highest price
value.
However, Clean and Green
hasn’t provided adequate relief
and hasn’t protected farmers from
having their homes and buildings
assessed at ridiculous rates
United Voice Raised For Homestead Exemption
ag zones and our ag preserve
farms. This feature to change the
constitution is very critical to start
tax reform.”
Swarr also noted that the retired
farmer who has fumed all his life
and wants to retain his farm, cannot
rent the land for much more than
the value of the taxes.
“The farm community will only
pay so much to rent the land of the
retired farmer,” Swarr said. “And
the amount of property tax that
must be paid ends up being a very
high percentage of the rent The
fanner wants to retain his land and
yet with the present tax system he
is penalized for that”
Other guests who spoke
included Bob Schaal, an older
homeowner who also works for the
Office of Aging as a volunteer, and
Mary Tribble, a Lancaster city resi
dent and small business owner.
farm homes get assessed as
though they are not located cm a
farm, but somewhere else.
With a number of counties hav
ing undergone mandatory tax reas
sessments recently (because local
political leadership refused to con
duct reassessments because of
their political unpopularity and in
many cases allowed assessments
to remain at 1960 s values), many
people have discovered that their
farmhouse has been valued at tre
mendously high rates, increasing
their property taxes significantly,
even after they enrolled their farm
land in the Clean and Green
program.
What the homestead exemption
would do, is allow a local govern
ment or school district to be able to
offer an across-the-board reduc
tion on assessed values of homes in
order to reduce the tax bill for
home ownership.
The way it would be figured out
would be on the median values of
properties. Therefore, a local tax
ing authority, for its purposes,
could reduce the assessed value of
homes by up to 50-percent of the
median value of homes in its area.
For example, if the median val
ue of homes in an area was
$50,000, that would reflect the
middle value, or the average of the
most numerous homes.
The homestead exemption
would then allow a local taxing
authority to reduce the assessed
values by up to $25,000 (half of the
median value).
That’s what would happen. The
local taxing authority would find
the median, deduct a set amount
from the regular assessed value of
a home, and then request payment
of taxes based on that value.
So, if the exemption were for
$25,000, and the home was worth
$75,000, it would be taxed as
through it were worth $50,000.
In the same area, if the home
were assessed at $250,000, the
new taxable value would be
$225,000.
Therefore, the exemption would
seem to mostly benefit those with
less valuable properties.
The millage couldn’t be raised
above lawful limits now in place,
and other properties couldn’t be
taxed more to make up for the loss
in money coming from taxing
homes.
Proponents claim approving the
homestead exemption will set up
local tax reform by changing the
{Si
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6 *s* ;j
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The Lancaster County commissioners hold a news conference. From k
Schaal, representing older homeowners, Ron Ford, Paul Thlbault, vice chairman, Ter
ry Kauffman, chairman, and Jere Swarr, Rapho Township farmer.
The Homestead Exemption
referendum is rate of several on the
ballot
constitution, and setting up a legal
foundation for further change.
All the details of the actual tax
ing changes would be worked out
in Harrisburg by the Legislature.
Some of the ways being dis
cussed of making up for lost tax
revenue would be the implementa
tion of a local income and/sales
tax.
Those concerns are still a long
way into the future.
It took two consecutive approv
als in two separate sessions of the
state Legislature in order to get the
homestead exemption question to
be placed on the ballot If it fails, it
would take another two successful
sessions of the Legislature to again
approach the state’s voters with
another question.
While there have been fewer
than a handful of letters objecting,
or dissenting opinions published in
regional newspapers, the general
position of all the agricultural
organizations is that approval of a
homestead exemption will benefit
agriculture.
The state Senate approved a
resolution calling for promotion
and support of the measure, and
individual state senators and rep
resentatives have been publicly
supporting it
Early this week, former Gov.
Taxing Questions
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Pennsylvania's voters arc to be asked three ques
tions about changing the state constitution, in addition to selecting a slate
of government officials.
The questions, or referendum!, that will appear deal with prison board
pardons, providing for some exemption of assessed values of homes for
local taxing, and make it easier to vote with an absentee ballot
The questions ue to appear as follows Read them, and consider them
now, instead of m the voting booth.
Homestead Exemption
Joint Resolution No. 1997-1
Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to permit
the enactment of legislation authorizing local taxing authori
ties to exclude from taxation an amount based on the assessed
value of homestead property, with the limitations that the
exclusions shall not exceed one-half of the median assessed
value of all homestead property within the taxingjurisdiction
and that the taxing authority may not increase the millage
rate of its tax on real property to pay for these 7
ptf ?
! < i i H f
Jere Swarr, Rapho Township farmer from Manheim,
spoke at a news conference held by the Lancaster County
commissioners Thursday morning. The conference was
called to show support for the Homestead Exemption
referendum that will appear on the Pennsylvania ballots
next Tuesday. Swarr spoke for the farm community.
Dick Thornburgh joined legisla
tors in a rally to support the exemp
tion. Former Gov. Robert Casey
also has staled support for it,
according to published reports.
Penn State University College
t *■ r \ situ u ( * t 1 f
Prison Pardon Board
Joint Resolution No. 1997-2
Shall the Pennsyvlanta Constitution be amended to
require a unanimous recommendation of the Board of Par
dons before the Governor can pardon or commute the sen
tence of an individual sentenced in a criminal case to death or
life imprisonment, to require only a majority vote of the
Senate to approve the Governor’s appointments to the board,
and to substitute a crime victim for an attorney and a correc
tions expert for a penologist as board members?
Absentee Voting
Joint Resolution No. 1997-3
Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to
require the enactment of legislation permitting absentee vot
ing by qualified electors who at the time of an election may be
absent from the municipality where they reside because their
duties, occupation or business require them to be elsewhere,
which would change the current law permitting asbentee vot
ing by such qualified electors only when they are absent from
the entire county where they reside?
> * * is i fm'
*t > *
of Agricultural Sciences Coopera
tive Extension published an objec
tive analysis of the proposed
homestead exemption amendment
to the constitution. They should be
available through the local exten
sion office.
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