“Comrade, pay your dues!”
Residents in Rockaway are frustrated after realizing they pay more in property taxes than former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who owns two valuable properties in Park Slope, where market values soar into the millions.
Robert Rose, a homeowner in the Rockaway Peninsula, felt especially burdened financially. He sought out examples to illustrate what he perceives as unfairness in New York City’s property tax collection methods.
Rose’s tax estimate stands at over $15,100, whereas de Blasio’s property tax bill, combined with his estranged wife Charlaine McCray, is around $13,700.
“It just doesn’t add up,” Rose remarked. “I feel like I’m getting the short end of the stick while de Blasio gets a pass. Come on, de Blasio, you should pay up!”
Rose clarified that his issue wasn’t with the middle-class residents in Park Slope.
“I have no problem with them, really. It’s the hypocrisy of people like de Blasio, advocating for additional social programs while not contributing fairly themselves,” he pointed out.
“This burden will definitely fall on the hardworking, tax-paying middle-class Americans.”
De Blasio acknowledged Rose’s concerns, stating, “He definitely has a valid point. This situation highlights why I initiated a commission to reform how property taxes are imposed to promote fairness across neighborhoods.”
Yet, that proposal has never been put into action.
Introducing major changes to the tax system would require the backing of the state assembly, along with the mayor and city council.
Rose’s home, worth about $1.9 million, has an assessed value of $76,378.
Surprisingly, he pays $1,374 more in taxes than de Blasio does on two properties, even though one of de Blasio’s locations is valued at $1.2 million more than Rose’s home.
This discrepancy arises because Rose’s property is evaluated at a higher rate, leading to steeper taxes.
De Blasio’s single-family home on 11th Street is said to have a market value of $3,199,000 but an appraised value of just $43,656, resulting in property taxes of approximately $8,662.66.
Meanwhile, his two-family home on the same street has an estimated market value of $1,953,000 but is appraised at only $25,796, with an estimated tax of $5,118.70.
A group called Tax Equity Now New York filed a lawsuit, claiming that the city’s property tax laws discriminate against various low-income and minority homeowners.
Even though Rose is white, the situation with de Blasio’s properties exemplifies a larger issue, according to Martha Stark, the policy director for TENNY and a former city finance commissioner.
“These inequalities stem from the city’s failure to adhere to the law. In spite of calls for uniform assessments, New York City does not assess housing consistently, resulting in systematic overvaluation of homeowners throughout the city,” Stark commented.
“The city has both the authority and the responsibility to resolve this,” she added.
Incoming Mayor Zoran Mamdani, who focused on correcting property tax inequities during his campaign, expressed the need to increase taxes in “wealthier, whiter areas” of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
His plan includes reallocating the tax burden from those overtaxed in suburban regions to more expensive homes in affluent neighborhoods.
Mamdani pointed out that the wealthiest individuals in the city pay a fraction of the tax.
Under current state regulations, property values remain artificially low, even as market values surge in high-demand locales.
He suggested that adjusting assessment rates for homeowners in affluent areas could alleviate the financial pressure on those in neighborhoods like Jamaica and Brownsville while increasing the tax liability for owners of pricey brownstones, many of whom supported his campaign.
However, despite his intentions, little has changed since he took office. The City Finance Department recently published preliminary property valuations that offered no new solutions.
Tenney indicated Albany is a significant part of the issue.
A law passed in 1983 established different classes for property taxation, allowing single-family homes and duplexes to be taxed differently from co-ops and condominiums. This law helps protect homeowners from drastic tax increases that may occur when their property values escalate quicker than those in other real estate categories.
Yet, the core problems linger on, without resolution.
