Wah Wah Wah I Have To Pay Taxes O Wah Wah Wah

I rarely get political but here goes. This whole thing is clearly a tax break for rich people. It's at the expense of everyone in New York. The value of New York City real estate is through the roof. So why give anyone buying it a break?

Because as anyone who has ever done business on any planet knows, the buyers immediately start whining about TAXES. As in "wah, wah, wah I have to pay taxes."

Well FUCK OFF, and I NEVER curse in this space but tonight I am pissed. Come ON. You can't sell real estate in MANHATTAN without giving them a tax write off? COME ON!!! Hey you know what taxes do? They repair the bridges and I wish some of these complaining jerks could be consolidated onto one rotten bridge and they could all plunge off together whining about the quality of the bridge that the higher taxes could have fixed. So there!

Let them say no and move somewhere else. $900 million in breaks to these rich bastards. Wow, is all. If the taxes are the difference between you buying here in New York City I think it's fair to say get lost. On behalf of the taxpayers of New York, who are ultimately paying MORE than their fair share, courtesy of this kiss-the-rich-guy's-ass-because-he's-buying-a-NEW-apartment policy, which exists because I LIVE IN OUTER SPACE AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING, I'm begging for a revision. PLEASE!

As a New York native I am upset. Besides myself. If you were here right now you would see a second me, besides myself. I'm not kidding!

Nothing against A-Rod.

That's a lie. I hate the Yankees. Really, a lot. Sorry.

Yankees star Alex Rodriguez will pay virtually no property tax for a $6 million apartment he is buying on the upper West Side.

Rodriguez will be billed around $1,200 this year in real estate tax for his 3,000-square-foot, five-bedroom penthouse with spectacular views of the Hudson River.

Over the next 10 years Rodriguez and his fellow residents will continue to receive huge discounts on their tax, a city housing official said.

For Rodriguez, a full tax bill would be at least $60,000 annually, the latest city assessment records show.

A spokeswoman for Extell, the company that built the 2-year-old luxury Rushmore Towers near the West Side Highway, declined to discuss the taxes on the slugger's new bachelor pad.

But the only two penthouses that went into contract this month at the Rushmore, each of which was listed at more than $6 million, have been assessed at a little over $100 per month in taxes, one real estate expert told the Daily News.

So how is it possible that tens of thousands of ordinary city residents struggle each year with soaring tax bills for their co-ops, condos and homes, while the Yankees' $33-million-a-year star gets to pay next to nothing?

Well, Rodriguez and many other well-heeled New Yorkers have learned to take advantage of a little-known tax abatement program that has existed for decades.

The politicians and real estate insiders call it the "421A" program. It grants as much as a 98% percent tax abatement for up to 25 years to condo owners in newly built housing.

The bulk of the 421A benefit has gone to luxury housing in Manhattan, though a few reforms by City Hall and the Legislature in 2007 at least required developers to build 20% affordable housing to qualify for the tax abatement.

This year alone, the 421A program will cost our city more than $900 million in lost revenues, the Independent Budget Office says.

That's money that could prevent layoffs of firefighters and teachers. That could fund senior citizen centers and pay for after-school programs.

You haven't heard much about this, but the 421A program ended in December for any new construction. But the city's powerful real estate industry is determined to get it renewed and even get it expanded. Brooklyn City Councilman Brad Lander has been leading the fight against that renewal.

It's too much of a giveaway to developers, Lander says, especially since there's already a glut of luxury housing in this town.

The developers want to link any extension of rent stabilization laws for tenants, which the Legislature must vote on by June, to a deal on extending the 421A tax abatement for builders.

The industry hopes Gov. Cuomo, who made a name for himself a long time ago as an advocate for affordable housing, will take their side.

[New York Daily News]