The plan would allow an unemployed homeowner to suspend property tax payments for a year.

A homeowner unemployed for at least three months could put off paying property taxes for one year under legislation announced Tuesday by state Rep. Steve Santarsiero.

The District 31 Democrat said his plan would "help get folks through this difficult portion of their lives."

Citing last week's Department of Labor report that showed the loss of another 85,000 jobs in December, Santarsiero described the economy as "clearly still in this recession."

"As a matter of policy, we should make sure homeowners are able to stay in their homes," he said.

Santarsiero's proposal, which he expects to introduce by the end of the month, would not exempt the property tax payment, just push it back. After the one-year suspension, the homeowner would pay back the interest free tax bill in quarterly installments over a four-year period.

Santasiero said there would be no income limits in his bill and it will conclude at the end of 2011.

"Hopefully by 2011 we will be well into a recovery," he said.

Santarsiero described his district, which encompasses Newtown, Lower Makefield and most of Upper Makefield, as "solidly middle class." He said many of his constituents with well paying jobs are no longer employed.

"This began with people in my district having this problem," he said. "That's really the primary reason why I felt this is necessary and we need to act."

The budget office, according to Santarsiero, has yet to develop a price tag for the plan.

Santarsiero said there are several revenue streams he would support to pay for the plan.

He supports taxing the natural gas extraction from Marcellus Shale in addition to levies on smokeless tobacco and cigars.

In addition, he was one of a handful of House Democrats to vote against the table games bill because of the licensing fee and tax on earnings was "far too low."

[Rep. Paul Clymer, a Bucks County Republican and] well known anti-gambling crusader, agreed with Santarsiero, calling the table games numbers "giveaways, simply outrageous. We really ripped off the taxpayers."

As for Marcellus Shale, Clymer said "that's a tax I can support, but I need to know the depth of it."

Said Santarsiero, "The bottom line is people in this commonwealth are hurting. It's our obligation to act to help those folks who are in need right now."