Andrew Friedman

That’s not fair

Hats off to The New York Times for the excellent lead article in the Real Estate Section yesterday, When it Comes to Taxes, Older is Better.

Josh Barbanel's sprawling investigative piece reveals a gross inequity that mars New York's property tax sytem. Essentially, older Manhattan co-ops and condominiums pay significantly less tax, as a percentage of value, on their properties than do single family homeowners in the outer boroughs. For example, the article compares a snazzy pre-war Park Avenue co-op building where residents pay about $3.20 for each $1000 in value to a block in Rosedale, Queens where homeowners pay approximately $9 in taxes for every $1000 in value. Hmm, that doesn't seem fair. Particularly, because the beneficiaries of this tax break are multi-millionaires.

Keep this tax break for the super-rich in mind the next time someone tells you that our government lacks the resources to provide vital translation or interpretation services to the 25% of New Yorkers who need them, or to improve our children's schools or to give our brothers and sisters in the Transport Workers Union a decent contract.

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Posted at 6:36 AM, Dec 12, 2005 in Middle-class squeeze
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