PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Low-income Pennsylvania seniors are getting a bigger tax break under a bill that Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Thursday at a Germantown senior center.
Seniors who frequent the neighborhood’s Center in the Park applauded as Shapiro signed an expansion of the property tax and rent rebate for seniors — their biggest tax break in more than a decade. The bill lifts the cap on the rebate from $650 to $1,000 — much to the delight of Barbara Cobia.
“I’m a widow,” she said. “I’ve been retired, and I live alone, so every little bit I can get will help me now.”
Cobia was one of several dozen seniors on hand for the bill signing. The extra $350 a year means a lot to Evalina Johnson, who was in the audience.
“At the moment, I cannot pay my utility bills, and that would help me. Even a dollar would help me,” she said.
A phalanx of state legislators, whom the governor credited with getting the bill passed, joined him for the occasion.
“Seniors have talked to me about their struggles — their struggles to stay in their homes, their struggles to be able to afford the necessities of everyday life — and you’ve asked your government for help and we are here today to deliver on that,” Shapiro said.
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The governor said the bill also expands eligibility by lifting the income limit on the rebate.
“When your Social Security payments went up just a little bit, it was knocking you out of qualifying. So we fixed that. We raised the income cap.”
The new qualification cap is $45,000, which will increase automatically as social security increases.
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