Five pols join in fight to fix property tax
FIVE CITY COUNCIL members representing majority nonwhite districts have taken the unusual step of asking a judge to declare the city’s byzantine property tax system illegal, paving the way for reform.
Fernando Cabrera, Ritchie Torres, Donovan Richards, Eric Ulrich and Jumaane Williams wrote in papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court last week that they welcome a ruling in an ongoing case over the discriminatory property tax system that would “declare illegal the irrational.”
“Council members welcome a decision from this court that will establish the parameters within which legislators can craft a tax scheme that does not harm city residents,” they wrote.
The Council members say they need guidance from the judiciary because previous efforts at reform have failed for nearly 40 years.
Data show the property tax system disproportionately impacts homeowners in majority-minority districts.
In Richards’ district covering southeast Queens, for example, residents would have seen their taxes reduced by 24.8% in 2015 — or $28 million — if their property taxes were assessed under the same rate majority-white districts enjoy, court papers show.
Richards told the Daily News the court filing was part of an effort to urge Mayor de Blasio to tackle the issue. “Why the hell did we need to do this? To really push the administration to look at this seriously,” he said.
A coalition called Tax Equity Now New York filed suit in April, arguing the property tax system was falling well short of being imposed “uniformly and rationally,” as the law requires.
Much of the reform of city property taxes would have to be made in Albany. But the City Council does have leverage to influence how the Department of Finance assesses properties.
“The system, as constituted, has no real defenders . . . yet nothing changes,” Torres said. “I’ve come to conclude the court is the only institution powerful enough to overcome political inertia when everything else fails.”
De Blasio has said the entire property tax system “needs to be reviewed top to bottom.”