Spitzer On Property Taxes

Eliot Spitzer's Plan To Cut Property Taxes

The burden of high property taxes is one of the most serious problems facing New Yorkers. Property taxes are too high, and they are placing undue strain on middle class families. Local taxes in our state have risen 60 percent in the last decade, and today they are the highest in the nation — 28 percent above the national average. And the seven U.S. cities with the highest property taxes are all in Upstate New York. We must provide property tax relief.

High property taxes damage our state in countless ways. They make it hard for young people to afford homes. They prevent seniors from staying in the homes where they raised their families. And they place a severe burden on people with fixed incomes and working families whose paychecks are not growing as fast as their tax bills.

Property taxes also harm our state’s competitiveness. They are a big reason why jobs are leaving and why we are having so much trouble attracting new jobs. Many areas of our state are stuck in a vicious cycle: high taxes are causing people and businesses to leave, but as the tax base declines, property taxes are being raised to cover expenses, causing more people and businesses to leave. We need to provide property tax relief to end this vicious cycle — and generate a cycle that fuels economic activity and lower taxes.

Direct relief will ease the tax burden in the short term, but unless we address the factors that are driving up property taxes, it won’t be long before we find ourselves in another property tax crisis. We must reduce the burden of unfunded state mandates and encourage localities to reduce the cost of government by working together to provide services more effectively.

Finally, we must make property taxes fairer by reforming the way assessments are done. Some municipalities have not done assessments for several decades. All around the state, the system lacks transparency and consistency. We must enact real reform to make the assessment process fair for all taxpayers. We must also devote significant state resources to augment and improve relief that the state is currently providing.
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Click HERE for details of the Spitzer plan

Read, Spitzer's New-Yet-Strangely-Familiar Tax Plan

Read, Spitzer outlines property tax relief plan

Read, Spitzer On STAR
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Next, a look at John Faso's position on property taxes