SENIOR CITIZENS REBATE AND ASSISTANCE ACT - REPEALED — 1971 Pa. Act 3 (historical enacted text)

Historical Act text

SENATE AMENDED
PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 212, 446, 478 PRINTER'S NO. 479
INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. FINEMAN, IRVIS, ENGLEHART, PRENDERGAST,
VANN, BERKES, DeMEDIO, MANDERINO, PIEVSKY, FEE, RITTER,
BONETTO, McGRAW, MRS. ANDERSON, MESSRS. SCANLON, EARLY,
F. E. GLEESON, GREENFIELD, FRANK, E. B. DAVIS, SHERMAN,
O'PAKE, MRS. KELLY, MRS. GILLETTE, MESSRS. KAUFMAN, MELTON,
SHELTON, J. J. JOHNSON, CROWLEY, WANSACZ, LAUDADIO, BRUNNER,
COYNE, GEISLER AND CAPUTO, FEBRUARY 2, 1971
AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 18, 1971
AN ACT
1 Providing property tax and rent assistance ASSISTANCE to certain <--
2 senior citizens, widows and permanently disabled persons with
3 limited incomes; establishing uniform standards and
4 qualifications for eligibility to receive assistance;
5 imposing duties upon the Department of Revenue and making an
6 appropriation.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Short Title.--This act shall be known and may be
10 cited as the "Senior Citizens Property Tax Assistance Act."
11 Section 2. Declaration of Policy.--In recognition of the
12 severe economic plight of certain senior citizens, widows and
13 permanently disabled persons who are real property owners and <--
14 renters with fixed and limited incomes who are faced with rising
15 living costs and constantly increasing tax burdens upon their
16 homesteads, the General Assembly, pursuant to the mandates of
17 the Constitutional Convention of 1968, considers it to be a
1 matter of sound public policy to make special provisions for
2 property tax assistance to that class of senior citizens, widows
3 and permanently disabled persons who are real property taxpayers
4 and renters who are without adequate means of support to enable <--
5 them to remain in peaceable possession of their homes and
6 relieving their economic burden.
7 Section 3. Definitions.--As used in this act: (1) "Income"
8 means all income from whatever source derived, including but
9 not limited to salaries, wages, bonuses, commissions, income
10 from self-employment, alimony, support money, cash public
11 assistance and relief, the gross amount of any pensions or
12 annuities including railroad retirement benefits, all
13 benefits received under the Federal Social Security Act
14 (except Medicare benefits), all benefits received under State
15 unemployment insurance laws and veterans' disability
16 payments, all interest received from the Federal or any State
17 government, or any instrumentality or political subdivision
18 thereof, realized capital gains, rentals, workmen's
19 compensation and the gross amount of loss of time insurance
20 benefits, life insurance benefits and proceeds, and gifts of
21 cash or property (other than transfers by gift between
22 members of a household) in excess of a total value of three
23 hundred dollars ($300), but shall not include surplus food or
24 other relief in kind supplied by a governmental agency or
25 property tax assistance.
26 (2) "Household income" means all income received by the
27 claimant and all other persons while residing in the homestead
28 during a calendar year in which real property taxes and rent are <--
29 due and payable, but shall not include the income of residents
30 not related to the claimant paying reasonable fixed rents.
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1 (3) "Homestead" means a dwelling, whether owned or rented, <--
2 and so much of the land surrounding it, not exceeding two acres,
3 as is reasonably necessary for use of the dwelling as a home,
4 occupied by a claimant. A homestead shall also include premises
5 occupied by reason of ownership or lease in a cooperative
6 housing corporation, mobile homes which are assessed as realty
7 for local property tax purposes and the land, if owned or rented <--
8 by the claimant, upon which the mobile home is situated, and
9 other similar living accommodations, as well as a part of a
10 multi-dwelling or multi-purpose building and a part of the land
11 upon which it is built. It shall also include premises occupied
12 by reason of the claimant's ownership or rental of a dwelling <--
13 located on land owned by a nonprofit incorporated association,
14 of which the claimant is a member, if the claimant is required
15 to pay a pro rata share of the property taxes levied against the
16 association's land. It shall also include premises occupied by
17 a claimant if he is required by law to pay a property tax by
18 reason of his ownership or rental (including a possessory <--
19 interest) in the dwelling, the land, or both. An owner includes
20 a person in possession under a contract of sale, deed of trust,
21 life estate, joint tenancy or tenancy in common.
22 (4) "Real property taxes" means all taxes on a homestead
23 (exclusive of municipal assessments, delinquent charges, and
24 interest) due and payable during a calendar year.
25 (5) "Rent constituting property taxes accrued" means twenty <--
26 per cent of the gross rent actually paid in cash or its
27 equivalent in any calendar year solely for the right of
28 occupancy of a homestead by a claimant.
29 (6) (5) "Claimant" means a person who files a claim for
30 property tax assistance or rent constituting property taxes <--
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1 accrued and was sixty-five years of age or over, or whose spouse
2 (if a member of the household) was sixty-five years of age or
3 over, during a calendar year in which real property taxes and <--
4 rent were due and payable or was a widow and was fifty years of
5 age or over during a calendar year or part thereof in which real
6 property taxes and rent were due and payable, or was a <--
7 permanently disabled person during a calendar year or part
8 thereof in which real property taxes and rent were due and <--
9 payable. For the purposes of this act the term "widow" shall
10 mean the surviving wife of a deceased individual and who has not
11 remarried except as provided in subsection (c) (D) (C) of <--
12 section 4 of this act. For the purposes of this act the term
13 "permanently disabled person" shall mean a person who is unable
14 to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any
15 medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can
16 be expected to continue indefinitely, except as provided in
17 subsection (c) (D) (C) of section 4 of this act. <--
18 (7) (6) "Department" means the Department of Revenue. <--
19 Section 4. Property Tax or Rent Assistance.--(a) The amount <--
20 of any claim for property tax assistance for real property taxes
21 or rent constituting property taxes accrued due and payable <--
22 during any calendar year beginning January 1, 1971, and
23 thereafter shall be determined in accordance with the following
24 schedule:
25 Percentage of Real Property Taxes or <--
26 Rent Constituting Property Taxes Accrued <--
27 Household Income Allowed as Assistance
28 $ 0 - $ 999 100%
29 1,000 - 1,499 90
30 1,500 - 1,999 80
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1 2,000 - 2,499 70
2 2,500 - 2,999 60
3 3,000 - 3,499 50
4 3,500 - 3,999 40
5 4,000 - 4,999 30
6 5,000 - 5,999 20
7 6,000 - 7,499 10
8 (b) No claim shall be allowed if the amount of property tax
9 or rent assistance ASSISTANCE computed in accordance with this <--
10 section is less than ten dollars ($10), and the maximum amount
11 of assistance payable shall not exceed two hundred dollars
12 ($200).
13 (c) No claim shall be allowed if the claimant is a tenant of <--
14 an owner of real property exempt from real property taxes.
15 (d) (C) If a homestead is owned or rented and occupied for <--
16 only a portion of a year or is owned or rented in part by a <--
17 person who does not meet the qualifications for a claimant,
18 exclusive of any interest owned or leased by a claimant's <--
19 spouse, or if the claimant is a widow who remarries, or if the
20 claimant is a permanently disabled person who is no longer
21 disabled, the department shall apportion the real property taxes
22 in accordance with the period or degree of ownership or <--
23 leasehold or eligibility of the claimant in determining the
24 amount of assistance for which a claimant is eligible.
25 Section 5. Filing of Claim.--A claim for property tax or <--
26 rent assistance shall be filed with the department within one
27 hundred twenty days succeeding the end of the calendar year in
28 which real property taxes or rent were due and payable, except <--
29 that no reimbursement on any such claim shall be made from the
30 General Fund earlier than sixty-five days after the last day on
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1 which such claim may be filed. Only one claimant from a
2 homestead each year shall be entitled to property tax
3 assistance. If two or more persons are able to meet the
4 qualifications for a claimant, they may determine who the
5 claimant shall be. If they are unable to agree, the department
6 shall determine to whom assistance is to be paid.
7 Section 6. Proof of Claim.--Each claim shall include
8 reasonable proof of household income, the size and nature of the
9 property claimed as a homestead and the tax or rent receipt or <--
10 other proof that the real property taxes or rent constituting <--
11 property taxes accrued on the homestead have been paid. If the
12 claimant is a widow, an affidavit of such status shall be
13 included. If the claimant is a permanently disabled person an <--
14 affidavit of such status signed and affirmed by the attending
15 physician shall be included. PROOF THAT A CLAIMANT IS ELIGIBLE <--
16 TO RECEIVE DISABILITY BENEFITS UNDER THE FEDERAL SOCIAL SECURITY
17 ACT SHALL CONSTITUTE PROOF OF DISABILITY UNDER THIS ACT. NO
18 PERSON WHO HAS BEEN FOUND NOT TO BE DISABLED BY THE SOCIAL
19 SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SHALL BE GRANTED ASSISTANCE UNDER THIS
20 ACT. A CLAIMANT NOT COVERED UNDER THE FEDERAL SOCIAL SECURITY
21 ACT SHALL BE EXAMINED BY A PHYSICIAN DESIGNATED BY THE
22 DEPARTMENT AND SUCH STATUS DETERMINED USING THE SAME STANDARDS
23 USED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. It shall not be
24 necessary that such taxes or rent were paid by the claimant. <--
25 The first claim filed shall include proof that the claimant or
26 his spouse was age sixty-five or over or fifty years or over in
27 the case of a widow, during the calendar year in which real
28 property taxes or rent constituting property taxes accrued were <--
29 due and payable.
30 Section 7. Incorrect Claim.--Whenever on audit of any claim,
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1 the department finds the claim to have been incorrectly
2 determined, it shall redetermine the correct amount of the claim
3 and notify the claimant of the reason of the redetermination and
4 the amount of the corrected claim.
5 Section 8. In the event that the total amount of the claims
6 exceeds the sum of sixty million dollars ($60,000,000) in any
7 one year, then the percentage allowed as assistance shall be
8 reduced in the proportion that sixty million dollars
9 ($60,000,000) bears to the total amount of the claims in any one
10 year
11 Section 9. Claim Forms and Rules and Regulations.--The
12 department shall prescribe necessary rules and regulations and
13 shall make available suitable forms for filing a claim.
14 Section 10. Fraudulent Claim; Conveyance to Obtain
15 Benefits.--In any case in which a claim is excessive and was
16 filed with fraudulent intent, the claim shall be disallowed in
17 full and a penalty of twenty-five per cent of the amount claimed
18 shall be imposed. The penalty and the amount of the disallowed
19 claim, if the claim has been paid, shall bear interest at the
20 rate of one-half of one per cent per month from the date of the
21 claim until repaid. The claimant and any person who assisted in
22 the preparation or filing of a fraudulent claim shall be guilty
23 of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
24 sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
25 ($1,000), or undergo imprisonment not exceeding one year, or
26 both.
27 A claim shall be disallowed if the claimant received title to
28 the homestead primarily for the purpose of receiving property
29 tax assistance.
30 Section 11. Appeal.--Appeals from any action or
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1 determination of the department in administering this act shall
2 be taken to the Board of Finance and Revenue, as otherwise
3 provided by law. Appeals from the decision of the Board of
4 Finance and Revenue may be taken to the Commonwealth Court in
5 accordance with the act of June 4, 1945 (P.L.1388), known as the
6 "Administrative Agency Law."
7 Section 12. Effective Date.--This act shall take effect
8 immediately, applicable to tax years and rent beginning January <--
9 1, 1971, and thereafter.
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