Councilman Proposes Extending Anti-Gentrification Tax Break

NewsWorks reports that Councilman Kenyatta Johnson is proposing to extend the LOOP program, a tax break for longtime owners of houses in areas of Philly where property values are rising.

Currently, city residents can participate in the Longtime Owner-Occupants Program (LOOP) if they’ve owned their homes for more than a decade and had their property tax assessment more than triple between the 2013 and 2014 tax years. (In this calculation, one must subtract the $30,000 value of the city’s homestead exemption from the 2014 assessment.)

For eligible residents, the tax break caps a house’s assessment at three times its original amount for 10 years.

Under a new bill sponsored by Johnson, the assessment would stay capped until a home is sold or transferred to another owner.

Johnson said the cost of extending the break would be “relatively inexpensive” for the city.