Bill’s property tax burden

Mayor de Blasio says he strives to make this the “fairest big city in America.” After stalling for four expensive years on doing anything about property taxes imposed with little rhyme or reason, now’s his chance to prove it — or shelve the slogan. For the coming year, de Blasio is counting on nearly $28 billion in property taxes to sustain a record $89 billion budget, a share of the load that’s ever growing. Rising real estate values make possible the overall increase, but the burden is not being borne anything close to equally.

Homeowners are in court suing both city and state, arguing that the rules are rigged against those who aren’t white, charging majority-minority neighborhoods more.

Without passing judgment on validity of the lawsuit: They’re right that collections are skewed.

A well-intentioned state law slows annual increases in trendy areas like Park Slope — where the mayor and First Lady own two properties — leaving them with lower tax bills on expensive homes than far less valuable properties in modest neighborhoods like Wakefield or Jamaica.

Another layer of inequity: The system charges homeowners and co-op and condo owners at lower rates than apartment building landlords, who get socked with bills — increasing at more than 6% annually — that ultimately hit renters.

More than a year ago, de Blasio promised a task force to fix the problem with economic smarts and political courage. Then, crickets.

The dusty to-do list is a long one. To attack the equity problem, he must fine-tune assessments, alter the formulas used to calculate them and urge Albany to update broken laws. While he’s at it, he and the Council should curb the ever-rising growth in everyone’s bills — which they can do on their own through budget discipline.

Had the mayor acted sooner instead of playing chicken, he wouldn’t be facing the queasy prospect of having a judge set complicated fiscal policy — or suffering the embarrassment of having city lawyers defend a likely unjust system.

Instead, he’s spent every penny on his precious priorities, capitalizing on a system he decries.