Friday, February 24, 2017

Queens realtors opposed to mansion tax

From the Queens Chronicle:

Some Queens realtors are not supportive of Mayor de Blasio’s proposed mansion tax, a policy City Hall is once again pushing that would create a 2.5 percent marginal surcharge on residences that sell for more than $2 million.

The mayor has said that the tax would raise more than $330 million in revenue yearly to fund rent subsidies for 25,000 low-income seniors. It would be a marginal surcharge paid by the buyer that would add to the existing 1 percent fee on sales reaching $1 million or above. Unlike the 1 percent tax, it would only be applied to the value over $2 million. (For example, a $3 million sale would have a $25,000 tax under de Blasio’s proposal in addition to the $30,000 required by the 1 percent tax.)

Long Island Board of Realtors President David Legaz called the mayor’s intention to fund low-income senior housing “laudable” but said that the cost should be borne “equally among New York City citizens.”

According to de Blasio spokeswoman Melissa Grace, the average price of a residence reaching the proposal’s threshold is $4.5 million.

“At a time when many of those buyers are likely to receive a significant federal tax cut, we believe it’s urgent they contribute more to help seniors in need,” she said.

Eight percent of New York City sales between 2014 and 2016 exceeded the proposed tax’s threshold, according to a report last week from the Independent Budget Office.
Most places that pricey are in Manhattan, although several Queens neighborhoods had sales north of $2 million last year: Forest Hills Gardens, Douglaston, Whitestone, Flushing and Astoria.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Live in a van to avoid taxes.

Anonymous said...

That's a policy I actually agree on. We all know that most of these places hold more than two families in it so rightfully they should be charged more taxes. If you can afford 2 million bucks, you can certainly afford to pay a bit more taxes.

Anonymous said...

The more important question is how do we get control of these insane Queens housing prices? Just in the last three years alone, they've spiked at an astronomical pace.

Anonymous said...

Leave it to DeBlewie to wring out more cash from NYers in exchange for nothing.

If you want housing to be more affordable you have to increase the supply of housing. The only way to do that is to build up while making improvements to the infrastructure with each project.

Over time, we'll have too many luxury apartments and prices will start to drop. If the rate of new housing is less than the rate of population growth, you will have more expensive housing. If you the rate of new housing is more than the rate of the population growth, eventually you will run out people to put into housing, creating a glut in available housing, and the price of housing will go down.

It's simple economics.

(sarc) said...

This is quite appropriate for our current communist Mayor.

The second plank of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto is "a heavy progressive or graduated tax".

Again you are all taking hook. line, and sinker of the Comrade's election campaigning on the Tale of Two Cities.

It is so easy to persuade you into the politics of division, jealousy, and envy.

Ironic how many despise and criticize the communist Comrade Mayor, yet it seems to me that the majority here are really Marxist communists at heart...

Joe Moretti said...

Total bullshit. STOP building tons of luxury dwellings to begin with, everything that goes up is "luxury" buildings. This mayor ran on "affordable" housing & "two of tale cities" platform and has not lived up to either and actually has made the "tale" go into over-time. This from a mayor who city owned properties for lower-income housing is a disgrace.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

(Sarc):

"Whatever it is, I'm against it."

-Marx (Groucho).

(sarc) said...

Annonomous,

Queue the music, quite a catchy tune.

Give that man a cigar!

YES, you are correct.

When and wherever the government confiscates ones' property, or the fruits of ones' labor, or limits or erodes the freedoms or liberties of the law abiding citizenry,

YES! I AM AGAINST IT!!!

Rob in Manhattan said...

Anonymous (sarc) said...

"It is so easy to persuade you into the politics of division, jealousy, and envy"

Yep. That is exactly how trump squeaked-in...along with a "liberal" dose of stealth bigotry.

Rob in Manhattan

(sarc) said...

Rob in Manhattan

Was it not The Madame Secretary HiLlEry Diane Rodham Clinton who worked so hard to bring us IRREDEEMABLE DEPLORABLS together.

irredeemable - adjective
(of a sinner) not able to be saved
not able to be improved or rectified;irreparable

Her PREPARED statement, in which she stated that a major portion of our citizens could not even by the Grace of the Good Lord, could not EVER find redemption nor forgiveness for not supporting HER.
She was almost as unifying as our previous President...

Sincerely,
A sarcastic sinner who knows that regardless of our transgressions, the Grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will always be ours, now and forever...