Fair Share Tax FAQs

The Fair Share Tax would create a 2% tax on unearned income, defined as income from income dividends, capital gains, and rents, royalties, patents, copyrights, estates and trusts.

No. The Fair Share Tax would not tax retirement income, social security, unemployment benefits, or federal active duty pay for military service.

No. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania taxes both earned and unearned income, but the City of Pittsburgh currently only levies a 1% tax on earned income (income from wages).

According to February 2026 estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and verified by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, a 2% tax on unearned income would generate $51 million in additional revenue for the City.

The richest 20% of Pittsburghers would contribute 92% of the total revenue generated by the tax. The top 1% of income earners - who earn an average of $2.2 million a year - would contribute more than half of the total Fair Share Tax revenue. The average income of a resident who would receive a tax increase under the tax is $274,100, and only 22.5% of Pittsburgh tax units would see a tax increase. For a more detailed analysis, see this report from the Keystone Research Center.

Under the present system, salaried and hourly workers in the City of Pittsburgh are taxed on every dollar they make, via the City’s flat 1% earned income tax. Wealthier residents, on the other hand, who receive income from investments and other non-salary sources, are not taxed by the City on that additional income. This has led to a lopsided burden on Pittsburghers who aren't in the highest tax brackets: Currently, middle-class Pittsburghers pay around 75% more in local taxes, as a share of their income, than the top 1% of wealthiest Pittsburghers. 

No. Studies consistently find that wealth taxes do not drive outmigration of wealthy residents.

No. The Pennsylvania Constitution's "uniformity clause" requires that similar categories of income, and similar categories of taxpayer, must be taxed at the same rate. The jock tax was ruled unconstitutional because it taxed different groups of people differently. The Fair Share Tax applies equally to all taxpayers, and would be the same rate for everyone, and is therefore not in violation of the uniformity clause. For a more detailed analysis, see this report from the Keystone Research Center.

TBA. The legislation will have a preliminary discussion at Council’s Standing Committees meeting on Monday November 2 before it is required to be held for at least three weeks in advance of a public hearing. Following the public hearing, Council can discuss and vote on the legislation. This page will be updated as Council meetings and hearings are scheduled.

No. The Fair Share Tax would only tax realized gains. Investments which are passively increasing in value would not be taxed.

Most landlords are businesses, and are therefore subject to the City's 1% tax on net business profits. They would not be subject to the Fair Share Tax. Landlords who are not established as businesses are not currently taxed by the City on their rental income, and their rental income would be subject to the 2% Fair Share Tax.

Costs are currently outstripping revenues at the City of Pittsburgh. Changes at the federal level have reduced funding for municipalities, inflation and fuel prices continue to rise, and a court-ordered countywide reassessment will not be completed until 2032. Mayor Corey O’Connor’s preliminary 2027 City Budget forecasts the City will have a negative fund balance by 2031 even while eliminating the respective annual $10 million allocations to the Housing Opportunity Trust Fund and the Stop the Violence Trust Fund. The Fair Share Tax can enable Pittsburgh to invest in more and better programs and infrastructure while making our overall tax system fairer.