(1) The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pursuant to powers granted by Section 2(b)(ii) of Article VIII of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as enabled in 72 P.S. § 4728.101 - § 4728.205, which provides for the establishing as a class or classes of taxation the property or privileges of persons who because of poverty and age are determined to be in need of special tax provisions, has enacted the Affordable Housing Unit Tax Exemption Act of 2022, which act, subject to certain limitations, authorizes local taxing authorities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide, by ordinance, for special tax provisions for real estate taxes.
(2) The Council of the City of Philadelphia, having determined that there are persons within this City whose incomes are such that imposition of the full amount of real estate taxes on such persons deprives them and their dependents of the bare necessities of life and having further determined that poverty is a relative concept inextricably joined with actual income and the number of people dependent upon such income, deems it to be a matter of public policy to provide tax provisions to relieve the economic burden of that class of persons hereinafter designated.