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Nassau has slightly higher real estate taxes than Westchester probably because they have a huge tax base with companies like IBM and now OSI. The top 3 counties are in NJ, Westchester is 5, Nassau 4, Suffolk 11.
Also sales tax for Westchester is 7.375% Nassau and Suffolk are 8.625%.
I like how that list is done, showing the relative property tax cost as a percentage of income... although couldn't it also be said that property taxes in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties are pretty much exactly the same?
As a percentage of property value, the taxes in all three are 1.6%, 1.5% and 1.4% respectively. Property value is the only thing that tax rate is going to be used to determine on that list (unfortunately there aren't any direct discounts for lower income anywhere!) so if you buy a $500k home in any of those three counties, your property taxes will be roughly the same (a 0.1-0.2% difference).
Obviously, everybody knows that you can get MORE house for your $500k in the middle of Suffolk than somewhere in Nassau... and I'm not really sure exactly how prices compare to LI in Westchester - but those are all functions of a market and subject to an infinite number of outside factors. The rate at which you will be taxed in each, the only thing that has any relevance to the municipal divisions that establish it directly, is effectively identical for all of them.
I would take grant516's comment about it seeming like there are more middle class posters on this forum one step further and say that the vast majority of Long Island itself is middle class, with visible pockets of insane wealth (and that the forum only reflects that correctly) - while Westchester has a comparatively very small middle class and (as he also mentioned) a much broader mix of socioeconomic classes on the whole.
I also agree that Westchester seems to have done a MUCH better job of abating tax costs through development and luring/retaining large corporations. They also have a much better pre-existing infrastructure for such things in the southern reaches of the county, and lots of open land to work with in the northern reaches. Not really an excuse... we have plenty of open land in Suffolk and plenty of completely wasted land in Nassau.
I like how that list is done, showing the relative property tax cost as a percentage of income... although couldn't it also be said that property taxes in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties are pretty much exactly the same?
As a percentage of property value, the taxes in all three are 1.6%, 1.5% and 1.4% respectively. Property value is the only thing that tax rate is going to be used to determine on that list (unfortunately there aren't any direct discounts for lower income anywhere!) so if you buy a $500k home in any of those three counties, your property taxes will be roughly the same (a 0.1-0.2% difference).
When you look at the big picture like Forbes did, it seems a lot more egalitarian than when you look closer at individual homes currently for sale. Long Island is really out of whack in some communities when it comes to property tax versus asking price of homes:
Here are the two least expensive homes in Levittown on MLSLI today:
LEVITTOWN, NY 11756 Taxes: $10,511 List Price: $249,000 (4.2%)
The tax burden on that class of home is a disaster and, as time goes on, will only make the house less and less attractive to potential buyers. Therefore, the burden to make up for the excessive property taxes on a starter priced home located in a perfectly fine, but not outstanding or acclaimed school district, falls directly on the seller to decrease the price drastically or not be able to sell at all.
Take a look at the two most expensive homes for sale in Levittown today:
The other problem is the discrepancy in taxes within a school district - take my old stomping ground of garden city - I was paying $12K in taxes and complaining bitterly, but there are people paying really close to $30K - at some point you have to ask "what am I getting that the 12K person isn't" - considering that school taxes make up, what - 70% of the tax bill and village taxes come into play in Garden City the answer is nothing. It's not like they are getting the better schools or more frequent garbage pick up or something.
BALDWIN, NY 11510 Taxes: $11,741 List Price: $235,000
I figured you personally didn't have a problem with taxes like that compared to home value.
Oh I personally have a HUGE problem with taxes like that - don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to say that we somehow have reasonable property taxes here on Long Island. I just meant that they're essentially the exact same thing in Westchester. The only reason I would have been "OK" with paying the almost $12k yearly (and rapidly increasing, I'm sure) taxes on that home in Baldwin (at least, before I knew it was full of water damage and mold LOL) is because unfortunately, if you wanna live here that's what you gotta pay... and in that particular instance, the extremely low purchase price could have made up somewhat for the complete rip-off yearly price gouging.
The 1.6% obviously isn't standard for Nassau across the board either. Places like Levittown SD that have next to zero commercial/industrial/high density properties (relative to the number of single-family homes*) are always going to be higher. Then we've got places like Village of Lynbrook (as you've mentioned recently) or Gordon Heights Fire District that inexplicably cost many multiple times what other identical municipal services cost. Plenty of other totally nonsensical variables as well - like twingles just mentioned in Garden City.
*=Just felt like including that in case someone felt the need to point out all the fine shops and businesses on Hempstead Turnpike such as Tri-County Flea Market and Denny's.
Nassau has slightly higher real estate taxes than Westchester probably because they have a huge tax base with companies like IBM and now OSI. The top 3 counties are in NJ, Westchester is 5, Nassau 4, Suffolk 11.
Also sales tax for Westchester is 7.375% Nassau and Suffolk are 8.625%.
What the table doesn't account for is what you get for your property taxes. I would argue that Westchester homes probably have more property for the money spent. Plus, Westchester's median income is higher than either Nassau or Suffolk County. That would make the fact that they pay higher taxes a little less burdensome.
At a certain point you really have to ask yourself? Is my 100 x 120 plot of dirt really worth $14,000 per year? If it was two acres my answer would still be no, just not as loudly.
What the table doesn't account for is what you get for your property taxes. I would argue that Westchester homes probably have more property for the money spent. Plus, Westchester's median income is higher than either Nassau or Suffolk County. That would make the fact that they pay higher taxes a little less burdensome.
At a certain point you really have to ask yourself? Is my 100 x 120 plot of dirt really worth $14,000 per year? If it was two acres my answer would still be no, just not as loudly.
Westchester's median income is actually less than Nassau and Suffolk (about $13,000 less than Nassau, $6,000 less than Suffolk). Westchester, however has more extremes. Westchester does have more higher incomes (over $200,000) than either Nassau or Suffolk, and more lower incomes (under $50,000) than Nassau and Suffolk, and a higher poverty rate
When you look at the big picture like Forbes did, it seems a lot more egalitarian than when you look closer at individual homes currently for sale. Long Island is really out of whack in some communities when it comes to property tax versus asking price of homes:
Here are the two least expensive homes in Levittown on MLSLI today:
LEVITTOWN, NY 11756 Taxes: $10,511 List Price: $249,000 (4.2%)
The tax burden on that class of home is a disaster and, as time goes on, will only make the house less and less attractive to potential buyers. Therefore, the burden to make up for the excessive property taxes on a starter priced home located in a perfectly fine, but not outstanding or acclaimed school district, falls directly on the seller to decrease the price drastically or not be able to sell at all.
Take a look at the two most expensive homes for sale in Levittown today:
BALDWIN, NY 11510 Taxes: $11,741 List Price: $235,000
I figured you personally didn't have a problem with taxes like that compared to home value.
The areas that get hit the hardest on LI as far as taxes go are mostly middle class areas, where the income levels are high enough so they don't get increased state aid, but that have little in the way of high end homes or commercial property to take the property tax burden off of the middle class homeowners. That is why homes in districts such as Levittown, Baldwin and Plaiedge have such high tax burdens for the value of their home compared to other areas.
When you look at the big picture like Forbes did, it seems a lot more egalitarian than when you look closer at individual homes currently for sale. Long Island is really out of whack in some communities when it comes to property tax versus asking price of homes:
Here are the two least expensive homes in Levittown on MLSLI today:
LEVITTOWN, NY 11756 Taxes: $10,511 List Price: $249,000 (4.2%)
.
Both are short sales - that would skew the ratio, because asking prices don't accurately reflect assessed value.
Regardless, Levittown has had relatively high taxes for some time anyway.
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atiently waiting for someone from the Westchester forum to chime in:::
