Pennsylvania Act 1938-33 (session 1) — ABATING TAX PENALTIES

Act text

ABATING TAX PENALTIES
         Act of Oct. 25, 1938, Special Session 1, P.L. 84, No. 33     Cl. 53
                      Special Session No. 1 of 1938
                               No. 1938-33

                                  AN ACT

     Abating certain tax penalties, interest and costs on county,
        city (except city of the first class), borough, town,
        township, school district (except school district of the
        first class), and poor district taxes; prohibiting the sale
        of real property for the nonpayment of any such taxes for a
        certain period; and preserving certain tax liens, and
        providing for the extension thereof.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  All unpaid penalties and interest imposed on paid
     or unpaid delinquent county, city (except city of the first
     class), borough, town, township, school district (except school
     district of the first class), and poor district taxes, for the
     tax year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four and all
     previous years, and all penalties imposed on such taxes for the
     tax years one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five, one
     thousand nine hundred and thirty-six and one thousand nine
     hundred and thirty-seven, assessed and levied against any parcel
     or parcels of real estate and on paid or unpaid delinquent poll
     taxes levied for any of such years, are hereby abated, without
     the necessity of further action by the authority levying the
     tax, if the unpaid delinquent taxes are paid as hereinafter
     provided. This section shall not be construed to abate the
     interest accrued on the taxes for the years of one thousand nine
     hundred and thirty-five, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
     six and one thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven but no
     further interest shall be imposed on such taxes after the
     payment of the first installment, as hereafter provided, so long
     as the taxpayer complies with the provisions of this act.
        In order to receive the benefits of the installment system of
     payment provided by this act, twenty per centum of the
     delinquent taxes due for the tax year one thousand nine hundred
     and thirty-seven and for all previous years and of the accrued
     interest due on the one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five,
     one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six and one thousand nine
     hundred and thirty-seven taxes, shall be paid on, or before, the
     thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and
     thirty-eight; twenty per centum on, or before, the thirty-first
     day of December, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine;
     twenty per centum on, or before, the thirty-first day of
     December, one thousand nine hundred and forty; twenty per centum
     on, or before, the thirty-first day of December, one thousand
     nine hundred and forty-one; and the final twenty per centum on,
     or before, the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine
     hundred and forty-two: And provided, That the respective current
     taxes on such parcel or parcels of real estate, levied for the
     year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, shall be paid
     on, or before, the thirty-first day of December, one thousand
     nine hundred and thirty-eight, and all such taxes for the years
     subsequent to the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
     eight during such installment periods, assessed and levied by
     such taxing authority, shall be paid before they become
     delinquent. For the purposes of this act, a tax shall be deemed
     to become delinquent on the date when a penalty attaches to the
     tax. 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-fifth of the total
     amount of the abated penalties and interest 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 sum 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 or owner, having the right of
     redemption, may anticipate the payment of the unpaid delinquent
     taxes for the tax year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
     seven and previous years at any time on, or before, December
     thirty-first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, by
     paying the entire amount of such unpaid delinquent taxes and
     interest due on the one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five,
     one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six and one thousand nine
     hundred and thirty-seven 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-eight, shall
     not be required at the time of such payment.
        Section 3.  This act shall be construed to apply to all such
     taxes, penalties and interest whether or not such taxes have
     been returned or liens therefor have been filed in the office of
     the prothonotary of the county, or proceedings for the
     collection thereof 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. The taxpayer shall be liable for the payment of
     all costs incurred, except the solicitor's fees, where liens for
     such taxes have been returned for nonpayment, or have been filed
     in the office of the prothonotary, or proceedings for the
     collection thereof have been instituted in any court.
        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 owner
     having the right of redemption under a tax sale, or other party
     in interest in the parcel or parcels of real estate against
     which the above mentioned taxes have been assessed and levied,
     whether separated or not.
        Section 5.  Any taxpayer or owner having the right of
     redemption shall have the right to pay the unpaid delinquent
     taxes, assessed and levied against any parcel or parcels of real
     estate, without being required to pay the unpaid delinquent
     taxes assessed and levied against any other parcel or parcels of
     real estate in the same ward, district or other municipal
     subdivision.
        The county commissioners of each county may, at their
     discretion and at the cost of the county, cause to be published
     two times, in not more than two newspapers of general
     circulation throughout the county, a notice to the taxpayers
     giving a synopsis of the terms of this act, setting forth the
     benefits provided by the act, and the necessary conditions
     required by the taxpayers in order to receive the same. Upon
     application, either in person or in writing, by any taxpayer or
     owner, the tax levying authorities, the tax collector, the
     receiver or receivers of taxes, or the person or persons charged
     with the collection of such unpaid delinquent taxes, or the
     person or persons in whose custody the records of such unpaid
     delinquent taxes are kept, shall furnish to such delinquent
     taxpayer or owner a statement of the unpaid 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.
        Every collector of taxes, whose duty it is to send to the
     respective taxpayers any notice or statement of their annual
     taxes, shall include in each such notice or statement an
     additional notice of the date when the next installment payment
     is due under the provisions of this act.
        Section 6.  In order to enable the taxpayer or owner having
     the right of redemption under a tax sale to receive the full
     benefits of this act, no real property shall be sold for
     nonpayment of taxes before December thirty-first, one thousand
     nine hundred and thirty-eight, and any tax sale shall be
     adjourned or readjourned or right of redemption extended as
     often as may be necessary for this purpose. If any tax sale is
     adjourned or readjourned or right of redemption extended after
     advertisement or sale, no additional advertisement or notice
     shall be necessary for the adjourned or readjourned sale or
     right of redemption. No such adjournment or readjournment or
     redemption, failure to advertise, or hold any such tax sale,
     shall invalidate the lien of any tax due and unpaid or sale had
     subject to redemption, 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 payment of said unpaid
     delinquent taxes is 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 authority has been barred
     or lost by reason of the provisions of any statute, 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 7.  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 8.  The act, approved the first day of May, one
     thousand nine hundred and thirty-five (Pamphlet Laws, one
     hundred twenty-nine), as amended by the act, approved the
     twenty-second day of June, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
     five (Pamphlet Laws, four hundred forty-four), the act, approved
     the fourth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six
     (Pamphlet Laws, ten), and the act, approved the fourteenth day
     of April, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven (Pamphlet
     Laws, three hundred two), shall continue in full force and
     effect as to any and all taxpayers who have taken advantage of
     and are not in default in the provisions thereof. All other acts
     and parts of acts, general, local or special, inconsistent
     herewith, be, and the same are hereby, suspended during the time
     this act shall be in effect.
        Section 9.  Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to
     prevent any taxpayer who has heretofore taken advantage and
     accepted the benefits of any of the acts referred to in section
     eight, and who has lost or who, prior to the thirty-first day of
     December, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, may lose
     the rights, benefits, privileges and opportunities under such
     act, from taking advantage and receiving the benefits of this
     act.