Pennsylvania Act 1936-25 (session 1) — RELATED TO TAXATION: ABATMENT OF PENALTIES

Act text

RELATED TO TAXATION: ABATMENT OF PENALTIES
         Act of Jul. 22, 1936, Special Session 1, P.L. 67, No. 25     Cl. 53
                      Special Session No. 1 of 1936
                               No. 1936-25

                                  AN ACT

     Abating, under certain circumstances, tax penalties and interest
        on certain city taxes in cities of the first class, school
        districts of the first class; and prohibiting the sale of
        real property for the non-payment of any such taxes for a
        certain period; and preserving certain tax liens, and
        providing for the extension thereof, and for payment of costs
        in connection therewith.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That all penalties and
     interest imposed on delinquent taxes in cities of the first
     class and school districts of the first class, for the tax year
     one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four and all previous
     years, assessed and levied against any parcel or parcels of real
     estate, are hereby abated, without the necessity of further
     action by the authority levying the tax, if said delinquent
     taxes are paid as hereinafter provided.
        In order to receive the benefits of this act, the taxes for
     the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five and all
     penalties and accrued interest thereon, and thirty-three and
     one-third per centum of the delinquent taxes due for the tax
     year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four and for all
     previous years shall be paid on, or before, the first day of
     November, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six; thirty-three
     and one-third per centum on, or before, the first day of
     November, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven; thirty-
     three and one-third per centum on, or before, the first day of
     November, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight: And
     provided, That the respective current taxes on such parcel or
     parcels of real estate for the years subsequent to the year one
     thousand nine hundred and thirty-six during such installment
     periods, assessed and levied by such taxing authority, shall be
     paid during the then current year before they become delinquent.
     If and whenever any of the said current taxes, or any of the
     said installments, are not paid when due and payable as herein
     provided, then, and in that event, there shall become due and
     payable for such year, a sum equal to one-third of what would
     have been the total amount of the abated penalties and interest
     had the payment in question been made on time, this sum to be in
     addition to the other payments required to be paid under this
     act during that year, which said additional sum shall be
     payable, and must be paid at the time the next succeeding
     installment payment becomes due under this act. If such
     additional sum is not so paid, then the total amount of the
     abated penalties and interest, less the aggregate of any such
     additional sums theretofore paid, shall be revived and added to
     the unpaid taxes with the same force and effect as if such
     abated penalties and interest, or portion thereof, had never
     been abated, and the taxpayer shall not thereafter be entitled
     to any further benefits or privileges under this act.
        Section 2.  Any taxpayer may anticipate the payment of
     delinquent taxes for the tax year one thousand nine hundred and
     thirty-four and previous years at any time on, or before,
     November first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, or of
     the balance of said delinquent taxes then due at any time
     thereafter during the installment period herein provided for, if
     the taxpayer is not then in default under the provisions of this
     act, by paying the entire amount or balance, as the case may be,
     of such delinquent taxes and receive the benefit of this act,
     and in such cases, payment of the taxes, assessed and levied for
     the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, shall not be
     required at the time of such payment.
        Section 3.  This act shall be construed to apply to all such
     taxes whether or not liens for such taxes have been returned for
     non-payment, or have been filed in the office of the
     prothonotary of the county, or proceedings for the collection of
     such taxes have been instituted in any court in said county, or
     where real property has been sold to a county, city, borough,
     town, township, school district or poor district at a tax sale
     or on a tax lien, and the period of redemption has not expired;
     but this act shall not be construed to apply to cases where real
     property has been sold other than to a county, city, borough,
     town, township, school district or poor district at a tax sale
     or on a tax lien, and where the period of redemption has not
     expired, but if the taxpayer desires any tax lien or judgment
     entered of record to be satisfied, it shall be so marked on
     order filed by the taxing authority or its solicitor upon
     payment of all costs actually expended by the taxing authority,
     prothonotary, and sheriff, the taxpayer to be liable for the
     payment of such costs only, and no other costs to be demandable
     from him or the taxing authority.
        Section 4.  The benefits of this act shall extend to and
     accrue to any successful bidder or purchaser at sheriff's or
     other judicial sale, grantee, transferee, mortgagee, or other
     party in interest in the parcel or parcels of real estate
     against which the above mentioned taxes have been assessed and
     levied.
        For the purposes of this act, a tax shall be deemed to become
     delinquent on the date of its registry as a delinquent tax or on
     the fifteenth day of January of the year, following the current
     year for which the tax in question was levied.
        Section 5.  Any taxpayer shall have the right to pay the
     delinquent taxes assessed and levied against any parcel or
     parcels of real estate without being required to pay the
     delinquent taxes assessed and levied against any other parcel or
     parcels of real estate in the same ward, district or other
     municipal subdivision.
        Section 6.  In all cases of delinquent taxes paid subsequent
     to June first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five and on,
     or before, November first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
     six, where the payments were or are made and accepted on the
     basis of the allowance to the taxpayer of penalties, interest
     and costs, or on the basis of the allowance of any of them, such
     allowance or allowances shall stand valid in all respects and
     shall be so viewed on the audit of the accounts of the tax
     collector.
        Section 7.  Upon application either in person or in writing
     by any taxpayer, the tax levying authorities, the tax collector,
     the receiver or receivers of taxes, or the person or persons
     charged with the collection of such delinquent taxes, or the
     person or persons in whose custody the records of such
     delinquent taxes are kept, shall furnish to such delinquent
     taxpayer a statement of the delinquent taxes owed by him to such
     municipal subdivision, showing the face amount, the penalty, if
     any, the interest, if any, and any costs or other charges in
     detail against such real property as shown by the records in his
     custody.
        Section 8.  In order to enable the taxpayer to receive the
     full benefits of this act, no real property shall be sold for
     non-payment of taxes before November first, one thousand nine
     hundred and thirty-six, and any tax sale shall be adjourned or
     readjourned as often as may be necessary for this purpose. If
     any tax sale is adjourned or readjourned after advertisement, no
     additional advertisement or notice shall be necessary for the
     adjourned or readjourned sale. No such adjournment or
     readjournment, failure to advertise or hold any such tax sale
     shall invalidate the lien of any tax due and unpaid, but the
     lien of all such taxes shall be fully preserved during the
     entire installment period, herein provided for, if the taxpayer
     avails himself of the privileges or benefits of this act:
     Provided, however, That in every case where a taxpayer avails
     himself of the privileges or benefits of this act, the period
     during which payments of the said delinquent taxes are postponed
     or continued under this act shall not be included in computing
     and determining whether or not any right of the tax assessing
     and levying authorities has been barred or lost by reason of the
     provisions of any statute or statutes now existing, or hereafter
     enacted, limiting the right of the said tax levying and
     assessing authorities to file, preserve or maintain the lien of
     the said taxes.
        Section 9.  The provisions of this act are severable, and if
     any of the provisions hereof are held to be unconstitutional,
     the decision shall not be construed to impair any other
     provision of this act. It is hereby declared as the legislative
     intent that this act would have been adopted had such
     unconstitutional provision not been included herein.
        Section 10.  The act approved the sixteenth day of May, one
     thousand nine hundred thirty-five (Pamphlet Laws, one hundred
     sixty-six), as amended by the act approved the twenty-first day
     of June, one thousand nine hundred thirty-five (Pamphlet Laws,
     four hundred ten) shall continue in force and effect only as to
     those taxpayers who have heretofore taken advantage of that act
     by paying the first installment within the installment period
     provided for in section one, paragraph (a) thereof, and have not
     become in default and shall not become in default in meeting any
     subsequent installments provided for in that act, and who
     continue to liquidate their delinquent tax obligations under
     that act: Provided, however, That if said taxpayer desires any
     tax lien or judgment entered of record to be satisfied, he shall
     be liable for costs as provided in section ten of this act. All
     other acts and parts of acts general, local, and special,
     inconsistent herewith, be, and the same are, hereby suspended
     during the time this act shall be in effect.
        Section 11.  This act shall become effective immediately upon
     final enactment.