Why Are Property Taxes In New York So High? (Nassau: insurance, house)

[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.

[thespeakerbox]

There are tons of kids in tons of schools with crappy management. Teachers and unions demand high wages.

Most of the money flows into the city

[sean sean sean sean]

Corrupt politicians, corrupt unions, corrupt insurance policy holders, corrupt employees on disability, etc. etc. etc. New York is all about making a buck any way you can.

[AlexisT]

Yes, but taxes all over the Northeast are high. High costs and high salaries are by far the biggest contributor.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by thespeakerbox

There are tons of kids in tons of schools with crappy management. Teachers and unions demand high wages.

Most of the money flows into the city

The Big 5 districts (the cities in NYS) suck up quite a lot of money -- the rest of us are subsidizing this. Considering the enormous numbers of commercial enterprises within the boroughs of NYC, why are we forking over so much from LI?

The Yankees can afford to pay tens of millions of dollars for a bunch of overgrown manchilds to play a kids game, they can have the taxpayers subsidize their new stadium, and then have the gall to charge insanely high amounts for tickets, concessions, etc. Meanwhile more and more NYers are heading out of state in an effort to try and find a place which is affordable and offers some semblance of quality of life.

What's wrong with this picture?

[AlexisT]

Actually, NYC gets back less from the state than it pays in taxes. That's why the state was sued over the school funding formula. Upstate is where the money goes, because they have less of it.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

The Big 5 districts (the cities in NYS) suck up quite a lot of money -- the rest of us are subsidizing this. Considering the enormous numbers of commercial enterprises within the boroughs of NYC, why are we forking over so much from LI?

The corporations always get the sweetheart deals from all levels of government at the expense of the regular person who has no "juice" and can't put big bucks in a politician's coffers.

Maybe what we are living in should be called a "corpocracy" rather than a "democracy."

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

Actually, NYC gets back less from the state than it pays in taxes. That's why the state was sued over the school funding formula. Upstate is where the money goes, because they have less of it.

Please note I wrote Big 5 -- 4 of which are upstate.

I mentioned NYC in terms of commercial tax revenue -- why doesn't it generate more?

A family member had a house in Bayside and was paying something like $4K year compared to that same house in Nassau which would have been closer to $8K+

LI gets back less than it pays as well.

And who is going to be footing the billion dollar lawsuit bill? My sneaking suspicion is LIers, Westchester, etc.

[Peter B]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

Corrupt politicians, corrupt unions, corrupt insurance policy holders, corrupt employees on disability, etc. etc. etc. New York is all about making a buck any way you can.

Don't forget organized crime. Not as prevalent now as years ago but it is ingrained in the way things are done in NYC and LI. Has been since the 1930's.

[AlexisT]

The person in Bayside is paying less because they're also paying city income tax (2.9 - 3.6%). if we paid local income tax, we could have lower property taxes as well. The overall tax burden in NYC is not lower, except possibly for retirees who are property-rich and cash poor.

NYC generates plenty of commercial tax revenue, and the slide is one of the reasons the state is in such trouble now--the budget was reliant on all the Wall Street revenue.