Property Tax Reform-plank-Swann

==They said the GOP candidate's cap on property taxes would violate the Pennsylvania Constitution.==
====Source: By Peter Jackson, Associated Press, April 2006====
HARRISBURG - A major element of Republican gubernatorial candidate
Lynn Swann's tax-fighting agenda - a cap on property taxes - would
violate the Pennsylvania Constitution, several tax experts said
yesterday.
In a Tuesday speech at a Camp Hill luncheon sponsored by the
Pennsylvania Association of Retired Employees, Swann promised to cap
property taxes in a way that ensures that the taxes of individual
homeowners do not change as long as they own their property, his
campaign confirmed.
Swann campaign spokesman Lenny Alcivar said yesterday that Swann also
would advocate an overhaul of the property-assessment system with "a
more efficient and predictable" method when he presents his complete
plan at a still-to-be-announced date in May.
However, two tax lawyers and another expert interviewed separately
said the proposal would violate a provision in the state constitution
that says: "All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of
subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the
tax."
"It clearly violates the uniformity provision of the state
constitution," said Bob Louis, a tax lawyer with Saul Ewing in
Philadelphia.
"To do this, Mr. Swann is going to have to amend the constitution,"
Louis said. "Good luck to him."
Doug Hill, executive director of the Pennsylvania County
Commissioners Association, which advocates for the state's 67 county
governments on tax issues before the legislature, agreed that such a
proposal would be unconstitutional.
Amending the constitution is a time-consuming process that requires
approval in two separate, two-year sessions of the legislature,
followed by voter ratification in a statewide referendum.
A lawyer who works for Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C.
Jubelirer (R., Blair), an early Swann supporter, said the former
football star's proposal is not necessarily dead on arrival.
J. Andrew Crompton, Jubelirer's counsel, speculated that it may be
possible to insulate homeowners from tax increases without violating
the constitution through changes in the assessment system.
Also, a constitutional amendment voters approved in 1997 to make
possible the "homestead exemptions" that are available in some school
districts introduced the concept of a limited differential in tax
rates levied on residential taxpayers and businesses, he said.
"There is leeway there. There is opportunity there. Perhaps they want
to amend the constitution. I don't know," Crompton said.
==Links==
* Property Tax Reform
Category:finance Swann