UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Pennsylvania taxpayers struggling to understand the ongoing revisions to local taxes can get insight from a booklet published by community development experts in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

"Understanding the Homeowner Tax Relief Act (Act 72 of 2004)" is a free, 12-page booklet prepared by Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics, as an unbiased explanation of what the impacts of the act will be on taxpayers, students and local businesses, what the options are for local school districts and how it can be implemented if a district decides to.

The publication follows up on earlier Penn State Cooperative Extension tax education efforts, providing an objective evaluation of how Act 72 works with Acts 24, 50 and the Farmstead/Homestead Act and assessing its implications for different groups and regions, Kelsey explains.

"We hope to provide an unbiased view for people to get an understanding and decide for themselves if it's good or bad for their district," he says. "The deadline for taxpayers to sign up for Homestead and Farmstead Exclusions is March 1, and then school boards can deliberate through May 30, determining whether their district will participate. So residents need to get a good understanding of what the act is and how it operates, decide if it'll be good for their district, then let board members know before the final determination is made.

"School taxes have been a concern of Pennsylvanians for decades," Kelsey says. "The commonwealth has tried several different ways of reforming local school taxes and funding local schools, and the debate goes on. As with the preceding laws, Act 72 is a local option -- each district must decide if it wants to opt into the new system or remain with the older system. So that local choice must be discussed and decided in each district."

Kelsey says the act attempts to target tax relief directly to homeowners and farmers. "Some districts get a large amount of their property tax revenue from nonresidents: vacation homes, camps and other kinds of recreational land that's not lived on by someone," he says. "If the relief were tied to millage, districts with high percentages of business properties or vacation homes would be giving tax breaks to business owners and nonresidents, with the tax breaks largely paid for by local residents.

"The Homestead and Farmstead Exclusions were created by the Legislature to insure that tax breaks paid for by local residents will go to local residents. Homeowners won't end up paying higher taxes to pay for tax breaks to local businesses. Statewide, about 25 percent of all local tax dollars are paid by local businesses."

Single copies of the booklet are available free of charge by contacting your county Penn State Cooperative Extension office, or by contacting the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Distribution Center at 814-865-6713 or by e-mail at AgPubsDist@psu.edu. For cost information on out-of-state or bulk orders, contact the Publications Distribution Center. Electronic versions of the booklet and more information on Act 72 of 2004 and local tax reform are available on Penn State's Local Tax Reform Web site at http://cax.aers.psu.edu/taxreform.

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EDITORS: Contact Timothy Kelsey at 814-865-9542.

Writer/Editor: Gary Abdullah Office 814-863-2708 FAX 814-863-9877