Philadelphia Schools’ ‘Haphazard’ Tax Appeal Policy Struck Down

The Philadelphia School District’s plan to raise revenue by appealing tax assessments on 138 commercial properties is unconstitutional, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled.

“The School District’s stated tax assessment appeal policy may be facially neutral, but its haphazard implementation of this policy was not neutral,” Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt wrote for a divided panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Oct. 6.

The district picked certain properties for countywide reassessment based on which ones were underassessed by about $1 million, making them likely to yield an additional $7,500 in annual tax revenue. The selection process, which the court called “idiosyncratic ...