SB204 • 2025

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MUNICIPAL TAX RATES BASED ON PROPERTY CLASSIFICATION.

Taxes

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Last action: 2025-08-11
Official status
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MUNICIPAL TAX RATES BASED ON PROPERTY CLASSIFICATION.

What This Bill Does

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MUNICIPAL TAX RATES BASED ON PROPERTY CLASSIFICATION.
This Act codifies the longstanding authority of Delaware counties and municipalities, under common law, to separately tax different classes of real property if the classification is reasonable and, as required under § 1 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution, the tax rates are uniform for all property in each classification.
See Green v.
Sussex County, 668 A.2d 770, 776 (Del.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

No action history is stored for this bill yet.

Official Summary Text

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MUNICIPAL TAX RATES BASED ON PROPERTY CLASSIFICATION.
This Act codifies the longstanding authority of Delaware counties and municipalities, under common law, to separately tax different classes of real property if the classification is reasonable and, as required under § 1 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution, the tax rates are uniform for all property in each classification. See Green v. Sussex County, 668 A.2d 770, 776 (Del. Super. Ct. 1995), aff’d 667 A.2d 1319 TABLE (Del. 1995); Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Smith, 131 A.2d 168, 177-78 (Del. 1957); Phila. B & W R. Co. v. Mayor & Council of Wilm., 57 A.2d 759, 765-66 (Del. Ch. 1948); Conrad v. State, 16 A.2d 121, 125-26 (Del. 1940).

The City of Wilmington has different tax rates for residential and non-residential properties and upon enactment on July 30, 2025, House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 144 amended the Charter of the City of New Castle to allow varying tax rates based on property classification. This Act clarifies that all municipalities have this authority, avoid