Finance

Pennsylvania House Bill 2748 significantly expands the state's employer child care contribution tax credit for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. The bill increases the maximum amount of employee contributions that count toward the credit from $500 to $10,000 per employee and raises the credit rate from 30% to 100% of those qualifying contributions. To manage funding, the legislation caps total annual credits at $10 million and includes a proration mechanism that proportionally reduces individual claims if the total demand exceeds this limit.

Pennsylvania House Bill 2736 amends the state's Fiscal Code to establish specific rules for handling abandoned and unclaimed digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies. The bill defines key terms including "digital asset," "digital asset holder," and "distributed ledger" to clarify which entities are responsible for reporting these assets. It requires digital asset holders to attempt contact with owners who have been inactive for three years, using electronic or mail notifications, before reporting the assets to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property. The State Treasurer is granted authority to direct the liquidation of these assets or accept them in their native form, while also allowing the state to refuse assets that are not freely transferable or have minimal value relative to maintenance costs.

Pennsylvania House Bill 2735 updates the Public School Code of 1949 to restrict school districts from increasing real property taxes unless their projected ending fund balances meet specific limits. The bill establishes a sliding scale where larger districts with higher total budgeted expenditures must maintain lower percentages of committed, assigned, and unassigned funds compared to smaller districts. To ensure compliance, each district that approves a tax increase must submit certification data to the Department of Education by August 15 of each year starting in 2027.

This Pennsylvania bill creates a new tax incentive to encourage the installation of green infrastructure, such as rain gardens, green roofs, and permeable pavement, on properties within the state. It defines "green infrastructure" as stormwater management practices that reduce or reuse runoff and sets rules for claiming a tax credit based on qualified costs like design, materials, and installation. To receive the credit, taxpayers must complete a certified project and submit detailed documentation to the Department of Revenue, while excluding costs covered by grants or routine maintenance. The legislation also updates the legal definition of "tax credit" to include this new program alongside existing state tax benefits.

This bill limits how much school districts that span multiple counties or municipalities can increase their property tax rates. It allows a district's tax rate to rise only by the amount of a specific index adjustment plus any prior year's rate, unless the increase is due to a formal reassessment of property values or a successful voter referendum. The rules apply to tax years starting after June 30, 2026, and are designed to prevent significant jumps in local property taxes for these multi-jurisdictional districts.