Property taxes in Lehigh County are high, uneven, and about to go up. The county hasn’t reassessed property since 2012, so every tax bill is still based on what a home was worth back then. And in August 2026, the County Executive proposed raising the county rate 17.72%. (69 News)
Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County Controller and Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania Senate District 16, wants to make property taxes fairer, and make sure no one loses a home because the tax bill outgrew their income.
Why old assessments make taxes unfair
Your tax bill is based on your home’s assessed value. When assessments aren’t updated, they drift away from what homes are really worth — and not evenly.
So two families with homes worth the same today can pay very different tax bills, just because of when each home was last assessed. The longer a county waits, the wider the gap gets.
In Lehigh County, the gap hurts people with less. In 2024, Pinsley’s office published an analysis showing that lower-priced homes are assessed too high, while the most expensive homes get the biggest discount. The over-taxed homes are concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods. The report recommended a quick fix — reducing every assessment by the same flat amount — and a full reassessment. (Property Assessment Equity, July 2024)
Neither has happened. That’s the gap between having the analysis and having the power to act on it.
What Pinsley would do in Harrisburg
- Cap property taxes based on income. If you’re retired or working for a living, you shouldn’t lose your home because your property taxes went up faster than your income. (The Morning Call, October 5, 2026)
- Require regular reassessment. State law should require every county to reassess on a set schedule, so assessments don’t drift for years.
- Move school funding off property taxes. School taxes are the biggest part of your bill — school districts in Lehigh County charge five to seven times what the county does. Pinsley wants the state to pay most of the cost of public schools, so it stops landing on homeowners.
Pinsley faces Coleman on November 3, 2026, in a district covering parts of Lehigh and Bucks counties.
