Are property taxes being used as a tool to force out lower income earners, and make Long Island only affordable to the most wealthy?
Long Island and New York in general hasn’t been cheap in any way for a long time. Still, many have grown up here, and raised multiple generations of family here. They’ve contributed a lot to what NY is today. Improvements and advancements can be great, but is using taxes to force more inequality to keep everyone but the elite out a role the government should be playing?
There seems little other explanation for maintaining an openly admittedly broken, predatory and fraudulent system running for decades. Or adding to that with even more taxes.
Freeze Or Pay Your Taxes?
It’s not just tax bills that are rising on Long Island either. Recent coverage by Newsday shows local residents being hit with record high electric bills, even after installing smart meters and spending days without the lights on during power outages. In Suffolk County, complaints of abnormally high water bills have risen by 35%, with little recourse for those impacted. With the snow storms just starting, many may have to choose between keeping the heat on or paying their property taxes.
Not The ‘Tax Freeze’ We Were Hoping For
While KPMG has listed dozens of areas around the world offering many types of tax relief this year, Long Island seems to be one of the few headed in the wrong direction. Some tax authorities in the US are even lowering property taxes for 2020-2021 after having spent less during COVID lockdowns. The only one to out-do Long Island for hammering its own residents may be Gilpin, PA, where there is a proposed 71% property tax hike.
While NY’s governor and local government members are giving themselves pay raises, and delaying paying their own departments’ bills due to COVID, these same authorities are raising taxes on local property owners. Higher income taxes are coming. Now Nassau County says it will freeze property values for tax purposes at their recent controversial peak through 2023.
During the years after 2008 when NY property values were crushed and owners should have been given deep breaks, they weren’t. Then just before property prices were expected to nose dive again, Nassau County reassessed every property in the county at new peak highs, and are planning to lock those in, despite real values likely to decline, leading to lower tax bills. All despite many flaws in the recent assessments, and some owners being hit with 50% high tax bills.
Don’t Get Locked Into Unfair Taxes
Challenge your property tax assessment and bill with the help of Property Tax Adjusters., Ltd. Do it early. Don’t get locked into years of high and rising taxes.