Mayor inks tax help for some shops

MAYOR DE BLASIO signed a bill Friday that will give some small businesses in Manhattan a break from the city’s much-derided commercial rent tax.

Hizzoner signed the bill, spearheaded by Councilman Dan Garodnick, to exempt businesses that pay less than $500,000 a year in rent from the tax — bumping it up from $250,000.

The tax, which businesses have long bemoaned, applies only in Manhattan south of 96th St. and north of Murray St., and requires businesses with hefty rent bills to a pay a percentage of their rent to the city as a tax.

The new tax exemption will apply to small businesses earning less than $5 million a year, which translates to about 1,800 shops that will not longer have to fork over the cash.

“Our small businesses are part of what gives us character, and our small businesses are one of the reasons that this big big city can sometimes feel like a small town, and a place that people belong and feel connected to,” de Blasio said, signing the bill at Santa Fe, a restaurant on the Upper West Side.