The "full value" project would make the system fairer. Property owners could figure out more easily whether their assessments were close to reality. Each would pay the correct amount - neither subsidizing neighbors nor being subsidized.
Under full value, all assessments would be revised to 100 percent of market value. In other words, a house worth $100,000 would be assessed at $100,000, not $32,000 or $12,000.
Residential assessments would, on average, be about eight times higher than they are now. In turn, millage would have to be reduced to one-eighth of what it is.
While the city would collect the same amount of money overall, individual taxpayers would notice a difference in their bills - for many, a big one.
According to an Inquirer analysis, 39 percent of property owners would see their taxes increase $100 or more, and 37 percent would get decreases of at least $100. The average increase would be $910, the average decrease $985.
The steepest hikes would hit parts of Center City and South Philadelphia. Neighborhoods enjoying the greatest relief would include Southwest and Northeast Philadelphia.
For now, though, the project is rocking between the waves.
The BRT argues that before it can implement the changes, City Council must adjust the millage rate - something it has not done in 20 years.
Councilman Frank DiCicco, who represents areas that would take the biggest hits, has said that Council would not change the millage until the BRT provided a detailed analysis of the new system's impact on homeowners.
Several measures before Council are aimed at mitigating the ill effects - among them, capping tax increases for homeowners whose properties have appreciated wildly. But if those proposals were enacted, DiCicco said, they would require special approval from the state General Assembly.
The overhaul is on indefinite hold.
Contact staff writer Anthony R. Wood at 610-313-8210 or twood@phillynews.com. Inquirer staff writer Mark Fazlollah contributed to this article.
