The Pennsylvania Senate and House have moved – or are expected to move – a number of bills this week that would make significant tax code revisions, as Friday’s deadline for an on-time budget looms.
One of these would eliminate the sales and gross receipts taxes on cell phone service; the other would expand the state’s property tax and rent rebate program for senior citizens and the disabled, which was described by those with knowledge of the situation as a “key part” of current negotiations. “It’s still a major concern,” Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday. The Senate’s move to strip the provision “is a big deal to us,” Grove said.
All of those bills were filed last week, and one did not have text available until late Tuesday. Samuelson declined to say if the fast-tracking was specifically linked to budget negotiations. The exemption would reduce state revenues by $62 million for the 2023-24 budget, assuming the legislation is enacted partway through the fiscal cycle, according to a House appropriations staff note. That impact would rise to nearly $90 million in foregone revenue in the following fiscal year.makes adjustments to the state’s program that provides rebates to senior citizens and the disabled for part of the property tax or rent they have paid in the previous year.