Blas tries to bar council from ‘racist’-tax suit

The de Blasio administration is trying to block City Council members from supporting a lawsuit that calls the property tax system racist.

“The case law is very clear,” said attorney Joshua Sivin, who represents the mayor. “City Council members cannot appear [in lawsuits] in their official capacity — only if the City Council appears as a whole.”

Democrats Fernando Cabrera and Ritchie Torres of The Bronx, Donovan Richards and Eric Ulrich of Queens, and Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn want to submit a brief on behalf of the suit filed by Tax Equity Now NY.

The group, made up of the NAACP as well as landlords and homeowners, argues that multimillion-dollar homes in majority white neighborhoods like Park Slope pay a small fraction of the tax rate shouldered by the largely black populations of working-class neighborhoods like Jamaica, Queens.

If a judge denies their request, the politicians could still file as private citizens.

“You can’t have people pay the same property taxes to a $9 million house in Park Slope as a $300,000 house in Bed-Stuy,” said Jonathan Lippman, who represents the group.

A city Law Department spokesman said, “We are not opposed to the effort by these council members to be heard on this important issue, to the extent that they represent their views as individuals and not as city officials.”