By Josh McKnight | The McKnight Team
Morton Borough Council is considering a 1% earned income tax that would apply to borough residents and to nonresidents who work in the borough. Officials say the revenue would fund police, infrastructure, fire and emergency services, wages, pensions, and debt service.
A Delaware County earned income tax is not a property tax, and that distinction is the whole argument. Borough officials say the new revenue could let them lower property taxes for residents.
How an Earned Income Tax Works in Pennsylvania
An earned income tax applies to wages and net profits. It does not apply to retirement income, Social Security, or investment income. Employers withhold it and it reconciles annually, the same way a school district earned income tax already does. If you already see an earned income tax line on your pay stub, this would be an additional layer rather than a replacement.
The rate is typically shared between the municipality and the school district. Many Pennsylvania municipalities already levy a portion of it. Morton is proposing to establish the borough share at 1%.
The nonresident piece is the part people miss. A 1% tax on people who work in Morton but live elsewhere pulls revenue from outside the borough tax base, which is exactly why officials describe the move as diversifying.
What a Delaware County Earned Income Tax Actually Does to Your Bottom Line
One percent of wages sounds small until you annualize it. On a $90,000 household income that is $900 a year, every year, rising with your raises.
Set that against what the numbers show right now. The average Morton home value is $370,597, up 1.4% over the past year, per Zillow data through July 31, 2026. Across Delaware County the average is $369,806, up 2.7%, with homes going to pending in around eight days.
Whether this trade helps you depends entirely on your own numbers. A retiree with no wage income pays nothing and may see a property tax reduction. A dual income household on the same street pays the most. Nobody can tell you which one you are without looking at your return.
Why Retirees and Wage Earners Land on Opposite Sides
Every tax swap creates winners and losers inside the same municipality. This one draws the line at whether your income arrives as a paycheck. Two houses of identical value can end up hundreds of dollars apart.
Households with wage income carry the new cost. Households living on retirement income, Social Security, or investments do not, and if property taxes come down those households end up ahead. That is not a criticism of the proposal. It is a description of it, and reasonable people land differently on whether shifting burden from property to wages is fair. What makes it hard to evaluate is that the property tax reduction is described as possible rather than committed.
That is the question to ask on September 9. Not whether 1% is reasonable in the abstract, but how far the millage would actually fall and whether that reduction is written down anywhere. A promise to consider lowering property taxes is not the same thing as an ordinance that lowers them. If you own or work in Morton, tell your neighbor the meeting is at 7 p.m. at the borough building at 500 Highland Avenue.
What This Means for You
If you own in Morton, run your own number before you form an opinion. Take 1% of your household wage income, then take your current borough property tax line, and see which direction you land. If you are buying in Morton, ask whether the tax passed and at what rate, because an earned income tax never shows up on a settlement sheet. It follows your paycheck home instead.
Borough level tax decisions like this one are what separate two towns three miles apart, and a Delaware County earned income tax rarely makes it into any listing description. The Springfield market next door gives you a clean comparison when you are weighing Morton against the surrounding township.
For current Morton prices, days to contract, and what is on the market, see our Morton PA homes for sale guide.
Thinking about buying or selling in Delaware County? Let’s talk.
