The Long, Tough Road for Property Tax Reform in New York City

J. David Goodman reports on a lawsuit in New York City intended to reform a property taxes that almost everyone hates—so much so that the lawsuit has attracted "a broad and unexpected coalition of plaintiffs that included city landlords, urban planners, budget hawks and even the N.A.A.C.P., which had for years complained of racial inequities in the property tax system."

The lawsuit, filed in 2017, inspired Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council to create a commission that eventually proposed "the first real changes to the property tax system in nearly three decades," according to Goodman, who explains the proposed recommendations in more detail:

The commission recommended that the city assess most homes, including co-ops and condominiums, at full market value, and remove a cap on how much the value of a property can increase each year. Under that plan, many property owners can expect to pay less in taxes, but hundreds of thousands of homeowners may pay more.

The changes would require approval at both the state and city levels, so political fallout would be expected if the recommendations were to proceed to legislative action. As documented by Goodman, however, the recommendations have so far failed to inspire an activity toward legislative ends at the state level.