PA House Addresses Roll Back Taxes Under Clean And Green
On June 23, the Pennsylvania House passed House Bills 984 and 1394 which propose to amend the Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974, 72 PA. CONS. STAT. §§ 5490.1-5490.13, also known as Clean and Green. Land enrolled in Clean and Green receives preferential treatment in the form of reduced property taxes. If a parcel no longer meets the requirements of Clean and Green,” rollback taxes” can be imposed to collect the tax differential for up to the prior seven years. As natural gas exploration has increased in Pennsylvania, individual counties have taken differing approaches to the imposition of rollback taxes. Some counties have calculated the rollback penalty on the entire acreage enrolled in the program; others have imposed it only on that portion of the property used for natural gas development activity (well pad, storage areas, etc.). The House bills provide for uniform statewide application of rollback taxes, with the rollback assessed only upon the portion of a parcel used for oil and gas operations. The bills provide similar treatment for alternative energy generation and small non-coal surface mining. If you have any questions about the legislation which now goes to the Senate, contact Steve Saunders.