Washington County Works

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not levy taxes on real estate or personal property. Instead, those taxes are reserved for the local governments - counties, municipalities and school districts. Property taxes apply only to real estate - land and buildings - and are not levied on cars, business inventory or other personal property.

Rates for real estate taxes differ depending upon the county, school district and municipality in which the property is located. Please click here for a complete listing of the county, school district and municipal tax rates in Washington County.

The amount of property tax you owe is based on a combination of your assessed property value, as determined by the county tax assessment office, and the millage rates of the municipality and school district in which the property is located. Millage rates are figured in mills. One mill is equal to 1/1000 of a dollar. Basically, for every $1,000 in taxable value, a property owner will pay $1 in taxation per mill.

In Washington County, property is assessed at 25% of the 1981 property value. As an example, a property worth $100,000 today, may have had a 1981 value of $67,000. The assessed value of the property is 25% of $67,000 or $16,750. To calculate the county tax due for 2010 multiply the assessed value of $16,750 by the 2010 millage rate of .0249 to arrive at the 2010 county tax due of $417.08.