Philadelphia Homes Need New Tax Valuation, Appeals Court Rules

The tax assessments of two Philadelphia homes must be reevaluated after a trial court improperly mixed a land appraisal provided by the owners with the city’s appraisal of the improvements, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The taxpayers themselves should have presented evidence of the fair market value of both the land and the improvements, even though the buildings were tax-exempt, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled in an unpublished opinion. “Because the trial court is neither an assessor nor an appraiser, it must make its determination upon the evidence put before it,” Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt wrote.

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