Are you being conned into paying too much property tax on your Long Island home? Other local home owners are fighting back against outrageous property tax bills and are winning. Will you join them or let your wealth be redistributed to the next generation of Hamptons home buyers? A combination of new factors and trends are coming together to slam Nassau and Suffolk County property tax payers with large bills they shouldn’t be paying. What’s going on now and what can you do about it? Long Island Home Sales Real estate industry experts are doing their best to push the falling amount of publicly available home inventory as a sign of a housing rebound. This is helping many line their pockets with hefty commissions as they create frenzied bidding wars. Sadly the joke is on home buyers today. When looking at the real underlying data foreclosures are surging and shadow inventory in many areas has been bulging by triple digits. Some fear this coordinated manipulation of the market will result in a rapid rise in home prices and could artificially pump up property taxes. It could, but for now home prices continue to fall on Long Island. A new quarterly report shows home sales volume falling and median home prices falling, with a 5.1% decrease in home values in the Hamptons. This means most Long Islanders are paying taxes on assessed values that are overinflated and do not reflect the current value of their properties. If nothing else you should at least make sure your home’s assessed value is accurate so that you are not overpaying in taxes. Tax Cap Rates a Sham Putting tax caps in place to prevent dramatic increases sounds like a great thing and certainly appeases many residents and influences voters, but what good are they if they are constantly tossed to the side when it’s time to send out bills? According to the state’s Property 2013 Tax Cap Report here are how many local government entities smashed through the barrier to charge higher taxes regardless of caps:
- 32% of counties
- 30% of cities
- 29% of towns
- 5% of school districts
- 15% of fire districts
Government Kicks Long Islanders While They Are Down If the above wasn’t bad enough consider:
- Despite recent corruption indictments officials continue to give sweetheart deals and sizable contracts to family members, which are often funded by local property tax payers’ dollars
- New York homeowners are being bumped from the STAR tax rebate program, with most unaware they have to re-register to retain benefits and avoid overpaying
- US Census Bureau and Tax Foundation 2013 index shows NY as the least tax friendly state in the country
Conclusion Being flush with cash is great, but splurging on new sports cars, the latest fashions and meals in NYC’s trendiest establishments to pamper yourself and show off is one thing throwing away money to the tax man that is squandering the money and pushing it into the pockets of their friends and family members is quite another. Time is running out to file your LI property tax grievance for 2013 and get the discount you are owed don’t miss the deadline!