how does tax abatement work?

[ekeenan81]

I don't get the abatement formula.

I purchase my condo in Jersey City in the middle of 2007 for 360,000.

My tax figure last year was 5,500.

I have a 1 bedroom 785 square foot condo.

I find this tax figure very high given this is the supposedly abatement figure.

The abatement tax I paid is semi-annual, and I pay a land tax quarterly which is a couple hundred dollars.

I guess this is the State of NJ trying to do a re-distribution of wealth to the lower income parts of Jersey City which it looks like I am subsidizing.

[ekeenan81]

From the previous post of the pdf for Jersey City for 2007

General Tax Rate : 5.549
Effective Tax Rate: 1.566

Looks like the Effective Tax Rate is the Abatement Tax Rate?

It ties back to about what I paid in 2007.

Also for New Jersey taxes are based off purchased price and not appraised price?

[VictorKaminski]

The formula is basically how much money does the town need, or want to collect. Schools need money, taxes go up, town improvements needed or wanted, taxes go up. Vote your politicians in carefully and not based on political affiliation is all I've got to say. NJ tends to be a blue state and those politicians have done nothing but rob us blind. The reds aren't much better but when it comes to spending being directly tied to taxes I'd rather vote conservative.

FYI tax abatements don't have a formula, they are tax breaks to incentivise growth and improvement.