Why Pennsylvania Needs Property Tax Reform

Pennsylvanians should not live in fear of losing a home because government continually raises taxes on property they already own.

Property-tax reform must do more than provide another temporary rebate. It must deliver substantial, measurable, and lasting relief while protecting schools, public safety, infrastructure, and other essential services.

My plan starts with spending discipline, audits, efficiency, structural reform, and accountability. It protects homeowners, renters, family farms, small businesses, seniors, disabled residents, qualifying veterans, surviving spouses, low-income households, and Pennsylvanians facing genuine financial hardship.

And it establishes one basic rule:

Tax relief must be real. It cannot be quietly taken back through reassessments, substitute fees, hidden charges, or an equal burden somewhere else.
 

THE PLAN AT A GLANCE

​

SCHOOL PROPERTY TAXES

Year 1: 20% reduction
Year 2: 35% reduction
Year 3: 50% reduction
Year 4 and beyond: At least 50%

​

COUNTY, MUNICIPAL & COVERED LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES

Year 1: 7% reduction
Year 2: 14% reduction
Year 3: 21% reduction
Year 4: 28% reduction
Year 5 and beyond: At least 33%

​

These are minimum targets, not ceilings.

​

HOW WE GET THERE

 

This does not work by simply replacing one tax with another.

​

Before broad replacement taxes are considered, Pennsylvania would be required to:

​

• Cut waste, fraud, abuse, and improper payments
• Consolidate duplicative administration and services
• Reform procurement and government contracting
• Restructure debt where financially responsible
• Improve collection of taxes already owed
• Review unjustified subsidies, loopholes, and exemptions
• Use existing revenue more effectively

 

Every dollar of recurring savings reduces the amount of replacement revenue needed.

​

If a funding gap still remains, Pennsylvania could use narrowly tailored replacement revenue. Broad-based tax changes would come only after the remaining gap is publicly documented.

​

The rule is simple: tax relief has to leave Pennsylvanians better off overall.

​

WHAT THE PLAN PROTECTS

 

HOMEOWNERS

The promised percentage reduction must reach the individual property-tax bill. Owner-occupied homeowners facing genuine financial hardship would also receive stronger protections before a home could be forced into tax sale.

 

FAMILY FARMS

Working farms would receive agricultural-use protections, farmstead safeguards, and protection against tax pressure driven primarily by speculative development value.

 

RENTERS & SMALL BUSINESSES

The plan recognizes that renters and commercial tenants can pay property taxes indirectly through rent and lease charges. It includes stronger transparency and protections against improper tax pass-throughs.

 

SENIORS, VETERANS, DISABLED RESIDENTS & HARDSHIP HOUSEHOLDS

Qualifying households could receive additional relief, deferral, or hardship protections beyond the standard reduction.

 

SCHOOLS & ESSENTIAL SERVICES

Classroom instruction, special education, police, fire, EMS, roads, courts, and other essential services remain protected.

But protecting essential services does not mean protecting waste, unnecessary administration, bad contracts, or political spending.

 

YOUR RELIEF

Government could not simply erase the tax cut through reassessment manipulation, substitute fees, hidden charges, or accounting games.

Relief would be independently audited and tracked through public reporting so taxpayers can see whether the promised reductions were actually delivered.

​

BOTTOM LINE

 

Pennsylvania does not need another temporary rebate that disappears when the next tax bill arrives.

 

My plan delivers permanent structural relief:

 

50% school property-tax reduction within three years.

 

At least 33% covered county, municipal, and other local property-tax reduction within five years.

 

It protects homeowners and family farms, helps renters and small businesses, safeguards people facing genuine hardship, protects essential services, and forces government to control spending before asking taxpayers for more.

 

And once the reductions are delivered, government cannot quietly rebuild the old burden.

​

Keep people in their homes. Protect family farms. Cut the burden. Stop the games. Hold government accountable.

​

WANT THE FULL DETAILS?

 

This page gives the voter-facing summary of my Property Tax Reform.

 

The complete policy package includes the detailed funding structure, taxpayer protections, assessment and reassessment rules, tax-sale safeguards, renter and small-business protections, audit requirements, enforcement provisions, transition rules, and constitutional protections behind the plan.