In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot so voters can decide whether to eliminate all property taxes in the Commonwealth by a date certain, which in turn would task the General Assembly with devising different methods of funding our schools, counties, and municipalities.

Acquiring, possessing and defending property are declared as Inherent Rights of Mankind in Article I Section 1 of Pennsylvania’s Constitution. Currently, these rights are being abrogated by circumstances within the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions, causing citizens to be deprived of their property for no reason other than the inability to pay taxes.

We would be righteously outraged if other Inherent Rights – such as the right to vote, the freedom of speech, or the right to worship freely – were precluded by any citizen’s inability to pay a tax. We should be equally outraged that property rights can currently be stripped away for the same reason.
 
A February 2023 Commonwealth Court decision called our school funding method unconstitutional for its inequitable distribution of funds and called for a new system. Further, the ability to tax property is dependent upon expensive recurring property assessments which are rarely uniform or fair and are always quickly outdated.

My constitutional amendment, if approved by voters, would abolish all property taxes in the Commonwealth as of July 1, 2030. Article I Section 2 of the Constitution guarantees the right of the people to make such decisions, and this legislation will facilitate their ability to do so.

By setting a definitive timeline, the General Assembly will have ample opportunity to authorize new funding mechanisms to replace the revenue that property taxes currently generate to fund our schools, counties, and municipalities. We can also use this opportunity to fix what's broken with Pennsylvania's other antiquated systems of taxation.

I urge you to join me in seeking to permanently secure and protect property rights by co-sponsoring this legislation.