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Uniform taxation
On Tuesday, Judge Seneca gave the county's three commissioners a grace period of about 10 months to begin Washington's first real estate reassessment since 1985. And they won't even have to do that should the Pennsylvania General Assembly or state Supreme Court decide to revamp reassessment laws.
The state Supreme Court should simply rule that Article VIII, Section 1 of the state Constitution ("All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax ...") means what it says.
The state's high court is considering a ruling in 2007 by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. against the base-year real estate tax system. The 2002 base year used by Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato essentially plays favorites by allowing some property owners to pay less than they should while forcing others to pay more.
The only thing uniform about the property taxation systems in Pennsylvania's 67 counties is the utter lack of uniformity.
The Supreme Court must uphold the commonwealth's Constitution by upholding Judge Wettick's ruling. The state must stop playing favorites and start applying the law fairly to all.
