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I posted here a few days ago looking for recommendations on towns on LI that would work for our family. We are strongly considering CT as well but LI is definitely still in the running, especially since me and my wife spoke and basically decided that if we are going to move from our urban area to a suburb that she is gonna have to get her drivers license and we will have to get a used second car for occasions when I cannot be there to taxi her around, because most suburb areas (especially the desirable ones) aren't really walker friendly and her driving opens up lots more options for us, especially since we don't have a real high budget.
That's not the topic of the thread though. I was wondering why Long Island has such infamously high taxes? Other places in NY or NJ have high taxes but there are some lower tax options, however LI is pretty infamous. Even my elderly in laws who are from the Bronx and have no experience with LI except for Jones Beach, and the Nassau Coliseum said "but the property taxes are so high out there!"
Here where we reside currently in SE PA, there are high taxes too but there is some variation. Towns with lots of retail tend to have the lowest property taxes, and small exclusive places with no retail have really high taxes but most suburbs seem to be somewhere in the middle. In LI it seems that there is really no rhyme or reason to the tax rates, the only constant seems to be that Suffolk Cty has slightly lower taxes than Nassau, which makes no sense to me because it seems like Nassau Cty is more urbanized/Queens like in places so it would have more retail and people paying taxes - thus lowering the share that everyone would pay.
We looked specifically at the areas where the malls are: Garden City (Roosevelt Field) and Lake Grove (Smith Haven), because here in our area people all want malls/outlets/shopping centers to get built in their suburb because the revenue lowers property taxes...not in LI apparently because those areas' taxes seemed just as high. The other area with a mall (Valley Stream) may be cheaper tax wise but we didn't look/weren't interested because we heard that area had some spillover crime issues since the mall attracts lots of folks from right over the city line in Queens.
Why are the taxes on Long Island specifically so high?? Taxes on a modest $350k bungalow in areas we can afford in Levittown are almost the same as taxes on a $900k mini-mansion in Bergen County, NJ!
I understand it's price of being right next to the biggest/priciest city in the country, and having access to tons of beaches, parks and not to mention good schools for the kiddos. But, still....having to spend what comes out to 50% of your mortgage ($9000 per year in taxes, $1500 per month/$18000 per year mortgage) just baffles me!
Why exactly are the taxes so high? Have they always been so high in relation to home values? If not - for longtime residents - when did it get so crazy? Are there any towns that are decent places to live that are not so heavily taxed at least compared to the rest of LI?
Just curious, as a potential resident.
That's not the topic of the thread though. I was wondering why Long Island has such infamously high taxes? Other places in NY or NJ have high taxes but there are some lower tax options, however LI is pretty infamous. Even my elderly in laws who are from the Bronx and have no experience with LI except for Jones Beach, and the Nassau Coliseum said "but the property taxes are so high out there!"
We looked specifically at the areas where the malls are: Garden City (Roosevelt Field) and Lake Grove (Smith Haven), because here in our area people all want malls/outlets/shopping centers to get built in their suburb because the revenue lowers property taxes...not in LI apparently because those areas' taxes seemed just as high. The other area with a mall (Valley Stream) may be cheaper tax wise but we didn't look/weren't interested because we heard that area had some spillover crime issues since the mall attracts lots of folks from right over the city line in Queens.
Why are the taxes on Long Island specifically so high?? Taxes on a modest $350k bungalow in areas we can afford in Levittown are almost the same as taxes on a $900k mini-mansion in Bergen County, NJ!
I understand it's price of being right next to the biggest/priciest city in the country, and having access to tons of beaches, parks and not to mention good schools for the kiddos. But, still....having to spend what comes out to 50% of your mortgage ($9000 per year in taxes, $1500 per month/$18000 per year mortgage) just baffles me!
Why exactly are the taxes so high? Have they always been so high in relation to home values? If not - for longtime residents - when did it get so crazy? Are there any towns that are decent places to live that are not so heavily taxed at least compared to the rest of LI?
Just curious, as a potential resident.
When you look closely at RE tax bills on Long Island, you will see that roughly 2/3 of the total is for local school districts. So if you see a tax bill for $10,000, between $6,000-$7,000 of that is for the local SD.
If you go further East, where the population with school age children declines, you will see noticeably lower taxes--at least on the South shore. East Hampton, Southampton and Water Mill are perfect examples: a $1.1 million home in Water Mill with taxes of $3,300 or even a $454,000 cape in Southampton with taxes of $2,300 and a $2.1 million home in East Hampton with taxes of $14,400.
There are many posts and comments on C-D about why school taxes are so high and I won't rehash it here.
I noticed you apparently overlooked another mall: Walt Whitman (now called Walt Whitman Shops, not Mall ) in the Huntington area. Not that taxes are low there either
The very short answer for the high taxes: six figure public employee salaries, benefits and pensions (police, teachers, administrators etc). There is of course more to it but salaries and pensions are the biggest tax burden by far.
The other area with a mall (Valley Stream) may be cheaper tax wise but we didn't look/weren't interested because we heard that area had some spillover crime issues since the mall attracts lots of folks from right over the city line in Queens.
Just as an aside, I wouldn't rule out Valley Stream. I grew up there and though it was a long time ago now, I'd bet this is still true: While there are higher-crime areas near the Queens border, other sections are as safe as anywhere. Remember, Valley Stream borders affluent, sought-after villages such as Hewlett and Woodmere. The crime rate doesn't suddenly go up just because you've crossed some invisible border.
LI has $100K janitors, millionaire cops in patrol cars, over 100 school districts each with six-figure superintendents, administrators and duplicative support staff. LI politicians have carved out special taxing districts and multiple unnecessary townships to employ friends and family in high paying jobs at taxpayer expense. They dole out expensive contracts to companies that made the biggest donations, often when the work isn't necessary. LI taxpayers support thousands of retirees collecting six-figure pensions in cheap states in the sunbelt. These retirees also receive 100% paid for health care for themselves and their spouses until they croak.
It's understood on LI that taxpayers are a cash machine that serves the public sector. Fixing potholes and providing basic services are low priority after patronage has been served and our parasites have been paid.
Everyone likes to blame pensions on the high taxes, but those public sector employees have their pensions paid through the NYS Pension system, which is statewide, not just Suffolk or Nassau County.
The real crux of the issue on Long Island is the multitude of school districts. If Long Island were to consolidate districts, the tax burden would decrease drastically.
Bottom line folks come for schools and the big cost is not size of your house but amount of kids in school district. Little capes in Levitown are full of bus drivers and cops with plenty of kids. Some rich towns have very little kids in school district and taxes will be lower.
Towns like RVC, Garden City are a mystery to me as they have HUGE commercial tax bases yet many houses pay 30K a year taxes. Where does all that money go?
if you want cheap taxes and things walking distance Island Park is cheap in Nassau
This house is $4,000 a year taxes and walking distance to beach, park, elementary school and LIRR.
Taxes are ridiculous everywhere in NYC and Long Island area and you may find areas with lower taxes, but when you put it in context of living and working in NYC you may find the numbers work better on LI.
If you bought a house in NYC your property tax may be lower, but you will also be hit with a tax on your income (around 3.5-4%). So say you bought a nice single family in Queens - it might run you 500k-600k in a decent area with property tax in the area of $5,000. Then to afford to live there you probably need a household income of $150k+ a year, which would put your income taxes in the area of $5,250. Although your home may be worth more your mortgage payment would be higher because of the larger mortgage so you are looking at taxes and higher mortgage of about $10,000 to $14,000 annually. So although NYC has a ton of commercial revenue it still doesn't make it cheaper to live there - property and income tax wise.
If you put it in this context, you could find a house in Nassau Co, Long Island in the $350k to $500 with taxes around 8k to $11k in most areas and it would be less expensive than living and working in the "City" with its higher commercial tax base.
Although Taxes are "high" on Long Island an argument can be made (such as above) that it is actually a bargain when all these towns have to provide all the same schools and services as NYC, but in many areas of LI it can be done with a better quality of life then living in densely populated city area.
Garden City and RVC also get nailed on a separate village tax AND the fact assessed values are so much higher they still chip in a lot to the Town of Hempstead.
So they have three taxes, GC School Taxes, GC Village taxes and Town of Hempstead taxes.
It should work your TOH taxes should be very little as GC taxes should cover part of that.
But since assessed values are so high you pay the same TOH tax as lots of towns not in a village and the village tax on top of that. Then you add in a high school tax rate.
If you are ok with average schools Inwood, East Rockaway, Island Park have very low taxes in Southern Nassau. And Glen Head/Sea Cliffe on North shore has low taxes and great schools. Bad train line. But if you drive to work it is great
Elementary Schools are pretty much equal in Nassau it is middle school and HS that is worth the high taxes for. If one bought a house when newlymarried in Island Park at 4k taxes by the time they have kids and oldest is 12 it could be 15 years.
15 years of 4k taxes is 60K
15K of "reasonable" 25k taxes in RVC or GC is $375k
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) in the Huntington area. Not that taxes are low there either 
