We once again seem to be facing a record year for storms, rain and flooding. Nassau’s County Executive wants you to report damage to help her get government aid. But where is your financial break? Where is your help with your property taxes?
Stormy & Wet: The Forecast For The New Normal
New York has already been hit pretty good this year. Even before we’ve reached the halfway point in the Atlantic Hurricane season. Of course, after that comes all of the fun of those infamous northeast winter storms.
Whether you are a big believer in climate change or not it is pretty clear that severe weather is increasing each year, with no sign of slowing down.
Instead of getting a break to adjust for this, Long Island property owners only seem to be more heavily taxed each year.
Your County Wants Help, But Doesn’t Want To Help Its Residents
One of the recurring trends we’ve been seeing is counties like Nassau increasingly asking for help, extra funding, more taxes, and the ability to defer their bills. Yet, not passing on any of the same courtesies to their residents and taxpayers.
We saw this in COVID, when Nassau stopped payment on almost $100M in debt payments, yet the annual property taxes were still due, and bills went up.
Now, County Executive Curran wants locals to report damage from Ida so that the county can benefit from federal funding aid.
Of course, those who have been impacted ought to be eligible for significant reductions in their property tax assessments and annual bills. It’s unlikely any breaks like this have been handed out voluntarily, or will.
The Tax Epidemic
In spite of all of the lessons learned about how cities and countries seem to thrive with minimal taxation, New York seems to keep heading in the opposite direction. That is certainly as much of the reason that as much as 40% of people moved out of Manhattan when COVID hit.
America was born on a distaste for taxes. Yet, when the battle for independence came, there were no income or corporate taxes. The Balance reports the tax rate in 1773 was just around 3%. When you tally up all of your taxes today, many will end up paying out over 60% of their incomes in taxes. And they just keep on going up.
What Can You Do About Your Property Taxes?
The system is admittedly broken. No one really wants to seem to fix it.
Fortunately, whether you have been impacted by recent storms or not, you can push back against extreme and unfair taxation and get a break.
You have the right to challenge, appeal and reduce your property taxes, and Property Tax Adjusters Ltd. can help you do that.