Pennsylvania Justices Bless School District’s Tax Appeal Method

A Pennsylvania school district’s method of selecting which property tax assessments to appeal doesn’t violate the state constitution’s promise of uniform tax application, the divided state high court held Tuesday.

The Downingtown Area School District’s policy of appealing only those assessments that have the potential to bring in the most tax revenue isn’t problematic because using a threshold or other constraint is permissible under the uniformity clause, the 4-3 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled.

It’s also appropriate that the district didn’t appeal every assessment that met the threshold, the court said. “If the taxing district only has capacity to appeal a ...