Yardley Approves a 1% Earned Income Tax and Eyes a Property Tax Cut
Bucks Co. & Beyond Daily
Bucks Co. & Beyond Daily
Yardley Borough Hall sits on South Main Street under that familiar street clock, looking every bit the small Delaware River town it is. On Tuesday night, Oct. 6, 2026, the people who meet inside that building made a change most of Bucks County already made years ago: they approved a 1% earned income tax on borough residents.
Council voted 6-0, with one abstention, according to local reporting. I've watched Yardley hold onto its river-town feel while costs keep climbing around it, and this is the kind of quiet budget story that still lands hard at kitchen tables, especially if you own a home here, work in Philadelphia, or are thinking about buying.
Councilwoman Martha Howlett, who has led the tax discussion since March, told Patch the goal was long-term stability for a town already at its 30-mill cap on general-purpose property taxes (the levy that pays for essentials like police and stormwater work). "Last night, we chose to provide long term financial stability for the town we love," she said. "The majority of council members, including myself, will pay this tax."
Yardley joins 51 other Bucks County municipalities, and more than 90% of municipalities statewide, that already use an earned income tax, Patch reported. Howlett also pointed to months of public talk and door-to-door outreach before the vote. The borough has been staring at a modest budget gap as it builds the 2027 spending plan; local coverage put this year's shortfall around $77,000 against a budget of more than $2.6 million.
An EIT is not only a new tax line. Council's plan, laid out before and after the vote, is to use the new revenue so it can lighten other bills. Reporting from the Bucks County Herald and follow-up coverage says Yardley intends to repeal its per capita tax, eliminate its occupational privilege tax, and, in a November vote that has not happened yet, cut about 10 mills from its 30-mill real estate tax for the general fund.
Ten mills is $10 for every $1,000 of assessed property value, so the property-tax piece is the part homeowners will watch most closely. Post-vote coverage projects the EIT at more than $1.2 million in 2027, with earlier Herald reporting putting fully phased annual collections around $1.6 million. Howlett has argued that wage-based revenue keeps pace with inflation better than a property tax stuck at its legal ceiling. The Bucks County Herald put a number on the net effect, reporting that "for the average Yardley resident with a home assessed at approximately $27,000 and an average salary of $112,500, paying an earned income tax but a smaller real estate tax will overall result in an $855 tax increase next year to support the municipality."
Not everyone in Yardley will write the same check. People who work in Philadelphia are generally exempt because they already pay the city's wage tax. Retirees typically do not owe the EIT on Social Security or most pension income. Volunteer firefighters may qualify for a credit. Those details matter in a borough where many residents cross the river for work and plenty of households are already retired.
One more wrinkle from the Herald's earlier reporting: if the Pennsbury School District later adopts its own earned income tax, Yardley would have to share the 1% rate with the district. That has not happened, but it is the kind of follow-on decision worth tracking if you live or buy in the Pennsbury footprint.
Watch the November meeting for the millage vote and the formal repeal of the per capita and occupational taxes. Until those pass, the property-tax relief is a plan, not a done deal. If you are shopping in Yardley, ask how any listing pencils out under a lower millage and a wage tax: the math shifts depending on whether you work in Philly, work locally, or are retired. And if you already live here, dig into your own pay stubs and assessment before assuming the net effect.
Did Yardley Borough approve an earned income tax in 2026?
Yes. Yardley Borough Council approved a 1% earned income tax on Oct. 6, 2026, in a 6-0 vote with one abstention, according to Patch and other local reports.
Will Yardley's property taxes go down because of the EIT?
Council plans to cut about 10 mills from the 30-mill real estate tax and eliminate per capita and occupational taxes, but the millage cut had not been voted as of the Oct. 6 meeting. Watch for a November vote.
Do Philadelphia workers in Yardley pay the new EIT?
Generally no. Coverage of the plan notes that residents who work in Philadelphia are exempt because they already pay the city's wage tax. Retirees typically do not owe the EIT on Social Security or most pensions.
For the bigger picture on schools, commuting and the river-town lifestyle, take a look at my Yardley neighborhood guide and my other Bucks County neighborhood guides.
I’ve always liked Yardley’s scale: the river, the walkable Main Street, the sense that borough hall is still a place where neighbors show up. A wage tax is never anyone’s favorite headline, and by the Herald’s math most residents will still pay more next year. The property tax cut is the piece that could change that, which is why November’s millage vote is the one I’m watching. I’m Nick Rau, President of Sales with the Rarity Real Estate Team, ranked in the Top 1% of agents nationally (RealTrends 2025, individual), with more than 135 Google reviews, and I live right here in Bucks County.
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Sources: Patch, Oct. 7, 2026; Bucks County Herald (Oct. 7, 2026); Bucks County Blog, Oct. 9, 2026; Bucks Independence, Oct. 8, 2026; Suburban REALTORS Alliance / Bucks County Herald; Bucks County Herald, Sept. 9, 2026.
Featured photo: Yardley Borough Hall, 56 S. Main Street, Yardley Historic District, Oct. 5, 2012. Photo (cropped): Shuvaev, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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