Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Locality Policy Choices <br /> <br />Method of Computing and Reflecting Relief: <br /> <br />Reduced Rates <br /> <br />Under this option, the locality sets its general personal property tax rate and then sets a <br />second "reduced rate" to distribute the relief reimbursed from the Commonwealth PPTRA <br />program. In effect, council would have to establish two, or more, rates every year during <br />the budget process for personal property. The separate rates would have to be noted on <br />the tax bills and explain that the reduced rate was made possible by the Commonwealth <br />PPTRA program. This option would require additional programming for the City's billing <br />program and annual calculation of multiple personal property tax rates. <br /> <br />Soecific Relief (Recommended} <br /> <br />Rather than computing and displaying the "reduced rates" on the tax bill every year, the <br />City may apply the reimbursed relief on a per-vehicle basis and show the specific dollar <br />amount of the relief for each vehicle. This is how the relief is currently shown on the tax <br />bill and requires no additional programming or confusion for the taxpayer, as they are <br />already familiar with this format. The tax bill still must state that the relief provided is from <br />the Commonwealth PPTRA program. As part of the annual budget process, only the <br />relief percentage necessary to disburse the relief to the qualifying fleet will need to be <br />calculated. <br /> <br />Method of Allocating Relief: <br /> <br />The new PPTRA program provides localities unlimited flexibility in determining the formula for <br />distributing reliefto owners of qualifying vehicles and confusing them at the same time! The only <br />statutory requirement is that the relief be provided to owners of qualifying vehicles valued at <br />$20,000 and under. <br /> <br />Sinale Rate <br /> <br />Under this allocation method a single reimbursement rate is applied across-the-board to <br />all qualifying vehicles on the first $20,000 of value or up to some other ceiling of vehicle <br />value (see explanation below.) <br /> <br />Mumme Rates <br /> <br />This allocation method allows for different reimbursement rates to be applied to various <br />value bands. The permutations are practically limitless. Setting multiple "value bands" <br />allows localities to direct tax relief toward average- to low-income residents to the extent <br />that the vehicle value correlates with their ability to pay the tax. The drawback is that it is <br />cumbersome to administer from a forecasting standpoint, requires additional software <br />programming to the City's billing system, and is difficult to explain to the taxpayers. <br />