Though New York City has lost tax revenue from the securities industry, property owners and hotels are picking up the slack when it comes to filling the city’s coffers, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a study by Eastern Consolidated. [more]

Peter Hauspurg

One would expect that in a down market, when property values are on the decline, the city’s collection of corresponding taxes would fall as well. However, a report from Eastern Consolidated shows that the volume of real property taxes in New York City increased every year from 2005 to 2012, regardless of market conditions, Real Estate Weekly reported. For example, property tax collections increased 17 percent between 2009 and 2011, even as the market value for citywide properties fell, the report says.

Eastern Consolidated pegged this development to an expansion of the tax base, as the city added new properties, among other reasons. [more]

Bruce Ratner and Barclays Center

Developer Forest City Ratner is arguing in court that the city overvalued Barclays Center by more than $600 million, DNA Info reported. Late last month, the developer’s subsidiary, Brooklyn Events Center, went to Brooklyn state court to fight the city’s $741 million property tax appraisal of the music venue and home to the Nets basketball team.

Bruce Ratner is arguing that the venue is worth only $111 million. However, his motive for fighting the appraisal remains uncertain, since the developer has arranged with the city not to pay property taxes and the project was partially publicly funded. [more]

While the city has not raised real estate taxes in more than a decade, a convoluted appraisal process has allowed the city to effectively raise taxes — and city officials have gone to great lengths to ensure that the revenue stream from real estate taxes stays steady, the New York Observer reported.

The fact that property taxes never waned, even in depths of the recession, is evidence that “the city has come to treat real estate as a golden goose for revenue,” analysts told the Observer. “We had four years of falling prices, but real estate tax collections never fell,” said Robert Knakal, a chairman at Massey Knakal Realty Services. “How does that even work?” [more]

Pricey apartments at One Hyde Park in London

A new tax policy instituted in London could bolster the market for trophy apartments in New York City, according to the New York Times. Transaction taxes in London are already double what they are in the city for homes worth more than £2 million ($3.1 million), and in March the British government increased the “stamp duty” on properties bought for more than £2 million to 7 percent from 5 percent. In a move meant to discourage tax avoidance, the “stamp duty” tax for offshore corporations making such purchases increased all the way to 15 percent. [more]

Governor Andrew Cuomo

Governor Andrew Cuomo assured voters that he and lawmakers in Albany will work to extend a tax break that stands to impact many co-op and condominium owners in New York City. When lawmakers return to the capital for a special session, probably after the November election, they will vote on a change to keep existing tax abatements  in place.

Under the tentative agreement, lawmakers would increase tax breaks for condo and co-op owners, but would phase out breaks for those owners whose condos or co-ops are not their primary residences, the Times said. [more]

Mayor Bloomberg

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to revise the long-standing tax abatement afforded to condominium and co-op owners in the city is meeting fierce resistance in Albany, Crain’s reported. The State Assembly is resistant to altering the law and appears set to renew the current 17.5 percent tax break through 2016.

The law was first put into place 16 years ago as a stopgap solution for an inequity between tax rates for homeowners and for apartment owners. But it’s endured through four renewals, and costs the city about $462 annually, according to Crain’s. About $260 million of the abatement goes to apartment owners whose tax burdens are now less than they would be had they been taxed like typical homeowners. [more]

Eva Talel

City officials have sponsored a bill that would restrict the 17.5 percent tax abatement awarded to owners of condominium and co-op units and abolish it altogether for people who aren’t primary users, NY1 reported. The tax abatement, which is about to expire, works to offset a tax law disparity that charges a higher rate for co-op and condo units than it does for single-family homes. Eva Talel, a Stroock attorney who specializes in co-ops and condos, told NY1 that the abatement is likely to be extended at least for the remainder of the year. [more]

From left: Jon Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and New Jersey farmland

New legislation approved by the State Senate raises the minimum income land owners must generate from farmland to qualify for highly discounted property taxes, the New York Times reported. Farmers now need to generate $1,000 annually selling products from the first five acres, and an extra $5 for each additional acre, to qualify for exemptions that sometimes reach as high as 98 percent. [more]

New Yorkers are getting sick of their growing tax bills.

According to WNYC, property taxes have doubled in the decade since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office, and more city homeowners are appealing their bills than in years past. In Manhattan, for example, the average property tax levied could increase by as much as $1,600 next year. [more]