A bill to raise property tax and rent relief for senior citizens and people with disabilities passed the Pennsylvania House on a near unanimous 194-9 vote Monday, but will the rebate go far enough?

The answer, according to state Rep. Doyle Heffley, is no.

Legislators tabled a bill amendment, introduced last week by Heffley, which would have provided homeowners an additional property tax rebate of 50% of their property tax bill up to $1,000 per homeowner.

“My proposed amendment for property tax relief was a simple and affordable tax cut that would have eased the burden of property tax costs on Pennsylvania homeowners by returning taxpayer dollars directly to each household,” Heffley said. “Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth, and particularly in the Pocono region, are struggling with skyrocketing property taxes that are pricing working families and young people out of the American dream of homeownership. It is a shame Democrats are satisfied with the status quo and doing nothing about the burden of property taxes in Pennsylvania.”

The bill that did pass the House would, if signed into law, raise the income limit from $15,000 for renters and $35,000 for homeowners to $45,000 for both beginning in 2024. The limit would rise in the future in accordance with inflation.

Maximum rebates would rise from $650 to $1,000 and state officials estimate an additional 175,000 people would qualify for the program.

“I’m grateful for the House’s overwhelming vote to expand the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program for seniors and people with disabilities,” state Rep. Steve Samuelson, the Northampton County democrat who sponsored the bill, said. “This will increase income limits, provide larger rebates for those who qualify, and includes a cost-of-living adjustment so that recipients won’t lose their rebate in the future when they get modest increases in their Social Security or pension.”

While Heffley voted for the bill, he said more could have done for the taxpayer.

“This is a good bill and it does provide some relief, but I’m disappointed it doesn’t go further,” Heffley said. “We had a chance to provide meaningful relief to all homeowners, all working class families and all seniors. I’m disappointed my colleagues across the aisle couldn’t see fit to provide one vote to give us that meaningful relief.”

Should his amendment have been adopted, Heffley said it would have accounted for an estimated $2.7 billion in relief.

“We just heard that our revenues are growing by leaps and bounds,” he said. “We have a budget surplus. I say we give that money back to our homeowners. They are the people struggling day in and day out to heat their homes, with the cost of eggs, and the cost of food. People say we can’t afford it. What about the senior citizen who has to sell their house they raised their family in because property taxes go up every year?”