Why Are Property Taxes In New York So High? (top schools, contractor)

[StrugglinLI]

I am not familiar with what the tax per thousand is for SCPD or fire protection in your area.

But.. you must be in the 15+ range if bringing in a union workforce 24/7 to man a fire station will actually save money. If that is a fact, then I would agree with you, and something is very VERY wrong.

As for police, I take their pay in context. Just about every civil service position is to the 50k mark in a few years. I don't expect somebody to work a job where they might not come home.. to work at 3am and be sleeping when their kids come home from school.. to basically shorten their lifespan by working rotating shifts.. for little more than what every other civil service employee is making.

I see the majority of the school problem, out here anyway, due to an influx of children from families that do not share the tax burden of educating them.

In my area, at least, the taxes collected for operating the local government are up there with the cost of police protection, yet I rarely see anyone complain about it. Maybe it's not as easy to blanket the entire local government as "overpaid" like the police, but I think there is a lot of room to cut unnecessary spending.

At least some of you get garbage pickup for your taxes.

Bottom line is that I think there is a need to cut spending across the board. I don't see it as the fault of any single entity. Whenever their is a budget surplus, in ANY department, the budget just grows to absorb the surplus.

Whoops, now we're in a deficit.

[AlexisT]

Originally Posted by Elke Mariotti

I own a condo in Austin, TX, and my RE taxes (in addition to HOA fees) are just under $4,200... considering that prices are a lot lower than here, that's a lot of money for taxes IMHO

TX has no income tax on wages. States that do that tend to have a high property tax to compensate. Or they have some other taxes. You need to look at total tax burden (where NYS comes in at #2, behind NJ, followed by CT, MD, HI, CA, OH, VT, WI, RI). Bottom 5, lowest to highest: AK, NV, WY, FL, NH, SD, TN, TX, LA, AZ.

Top 5 states for property tax are, in order: NJ, NH, CT, NY, MA. This doesn't take average home values into consideration, though; it's a list of median real estate taxes, rather than percentage rates.

[John Gross]

[Roswilli]

I have a question. I live on Long Island and I heard a rumor that some of my very exorbitant property tax is not solely used for schools in my county or on long island but a large percentage is distributed to schools in the five boroughs of NYC. Any truth to this? I tried to look up how the property taxes are distributed, but came up with YADA!!!

[scottzilla]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

Out here in Medford we are paying the highest fire tax. Our fire tax is over $2000 per year.

Add that to a total of over $10,000 in taxes per year.

Now add the fact that my kids go to parochial school and we get no credit for that on our taxes. Yes, its my choice to send them there, but if the school districts was better, I would send them there. So in a way, I have no choice

So in essence, the school district gets a free ride on my kids!! The fire taxes get a free ride on our development as it has been here once in the past year.

d

Medford built a brand new Firehouse 2 years ago (I think it was 2 years).
That explains that.

What I find interesting is how everything is "Out of money". The Police, the schools, the MTA, etc. They tell you they are "Out of money". Any updates, improvements, etc all result in the consumer/taxpayer getting screwed.
This means our tax dollars are enough to cover the absolute bare minimum of services. Think about it; it's true. Our tax dollars are going to cover the costs of the status quo. Nothing more.
This leads me to what I believe to be the crux of the matter: Mismanagement. Our money is being mismanaged. Shifting infrastructure is merely a patch job to make a failing structure work.

[thebobs]

If city-data.com were taxed, our forum would be taxed the most.

[Burb]

http://www.cptr.state.ny.us/property...solidation.pdf

This remedy for our tax burden is right on point. Consolidate the admin. No less teachers or reduced standards, just less staff in the middle doing redundant clerical work.

[zulu400]

Originally Posted by johntedder

New Yorkers pay the highest property taxes in America.
New York property taxes are 78% higher than the national average.

New York schools outside of New York City spend more per student
than any state in the nation – an estimated $18,768 in 2008-09.
New York’s per student spending is more than 50 percent above the national average.

The New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief recently
released their final report with recommendations on how to fix this.
It is an excellent report that is very interesting reading. You can read it here.

Read the report and spread the word. New York needs to start implementing these changes now.

There is a price to pay to proclaim to the world that NY is the best place on earth !!

In a nutshell....This is how NY works....

A, B and C live in NY
A robs B, B robs C and C robs A.
They are all happy thinking they are earning top $$$ and sending kids to top schools and living the best life possible.

D moves in...
A robs D, B robs D and C robs D....
Two years later....
D has learnt the ropes and gets into the robbing circle....

Now.... if you can't get into the circle.... you will keep complaining your whole life....

[scottzilla]

Originally Posted by zulu400

There is a price to pay to proclaim to the world that NY is the best place on earth !!

In a nutshell....This is how NY works....

A, B and C live in NY
A robs B, B robs C and C robs A.
They are all happy thinking they are earning top $$$ and sending kids to top schools and living the best life possible.

D moves in...
A robs D, B robs D and C robs D....
Two years later....
D has learnt the ropes and gets into the robbing circle....

Now.... if you can't get into the circle.... you will keep complaining your whole life....

"E" moves to North Carolina...

[zulu400]

Originally Posted by scottzilla

"E" moves to North Carolina...

LOL....
But seriously, if E would move out to any place I would respect that and wish them luck rather than give them some more garbage like....

"Good Riddance"
"Not good enough for NY"
"You'll be back here next year"
"NY will be better without you" ..... and various combination's of the above !!