News from socialist New York.

[miko2d]

I've looked at my property taxes bill. Remember how they've just raised NYC property tax by 18% rather than cut wastefull unneeded programs? Not only did my tax rate shot up by 20% (instead of 18), the assessed value of my house was increased by $235,000. The house was built three years ago and bought and asessed at market price. Since then New York got bombed, the economy tanked, the big firms are leaving, the jobs are lost by thousand, people flee upstate or to new jersey and the city bureaucrats believe that despite all that a house has increased in price by that much in a couple of years.
 I wish I could make them buy it at that ridiculous price...

 Four teens took a boat in the evening to to sail couple hundred yards to an islet in the Long Island Sound popular with youth.
 The 911 got a cell-phone call from one of them indicating the precise location and saying "our boat is taking water, we are gonna die" after which the call broke. The Coast Guard ship and a helicopter were few minutes away but since the teen did not properly introduce himself or something, the 911 dispatcher did not act on the call and no action was taken untill relatives filed missing persons report the next day.
 That is very typical of the service new yorkers get from their government.

 miko

[lazs2]

one of the best propositions I have seen was Prop 13 in CA.  our property taxes could not go up so long as you owned the house.  I am still on it my taxes are half what they could be.
lazs

[Hangtime]

ROFL!!

Value increased by a quarter of a million??

ROFL!!

Gawd, had no idea life was so damn hard in living in Brooklyn these days.

*snicker*

Maybe you should look into gettin a place in the Hamptons with the equity to get away on the weekends.

[Frogm4n]

damn socialist new yorkers! next thing you know they will be giving shelter to the tired,  poor,  huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and the wretched refuse .  how unamerican is that!

[Maverick]

Gee, It's just terrible that you made SO MUCH MONEY that your taxes have gone up.    Ya know if it is SO bad that you can't take it (taxes and the other parts of living in a capitalist nation) the door does swing both ways.

Now come to Arizona and pay taxes. I need a raise in my pension!  BTW I don't live in a house that has ANYWHERE the valuation yours has! I still pay taxes too.

[miko2d]

I can say it here with confidence - you guys are idiots!

 I've never said that my house's value increased by that much.
 Just that the city's assesment suddenly did - contrary to any economic reality but if I disagree and do not pay, people with guns will come in and put me in jail...
 If the city's economy is in ruins, people and company earning less - I certainly have not seen a raise in 3 years, neither has my wife, why would the real estate values be increasing? I understand, the city expences have to be covered, so why not honestly propose 80% property tax increase rather than 18% and tinker with the values?
 
 My house was assessed in low five hundreds just two years ago - way overpriced even then but at least about the purchase price at the top of an economic boom three years ago.
 Anyone who believes that a semi-detached house in Brooklyn on a 25x100 feet lot - and not in any fancy area, Bensonhurst, if anyone knows - is worth 50% more in the last two years - with all the terrorism, recession, etc. - is an idiot!
 I don't even own that house - the bank does. And I paid twice as much as I intended to pay when I started looking for a house. I did not have much choice where to live and we were starting a family and had to have my in-laws living with us. For five people living on one and a half programmer's salaries, we are far from making "SO MUCH MONEY".
 You think it's any advantage living in an expensive house? One pays more mortgage inetrest, risks to lose more if the values drop, pays ridiculous property taxes and buying/selling expenses but one does not end up with any more money than one earned.

 Incidentally, my neighbour's absolutely identical house is still assessed at low $500 though they will surely get to him eventually.

 I am certainly not making any more money now that I was two years ago but considerably less - not being a member of any union. Neither does and average new-yorker.

 This is a money government makes out of thin air. If I sell the house tomorrow at a much lower value than assessed, there is no way to recover the overpaid property taxes.

 BTW, we have NY State income tax of about 6.5% and NY City income tax of over 4% and a combined state+city sales tax of 8.25%. The property tax rate is small compared to suburbun counties without local income tax, but the houses are about 3 times more expensive, so the total is about the same. Of course they get decent schools and police protection for their money, here it's a waste anyway, so any rate would be overpaying.

 I made this post as an example of a government lies and arbitrariness, not as a boast of any wealth. Anyone wants to take that house off my hands for that ridiculous price? Be my guest. New York City is a great place to live! Come in before housing values increase even more. Don't miss your chance to enrichment - that house is sure to cost a cool mill in a year or two! I will even furnish a map of the adjacenta area personally marekd to make sure you do not stray into dangerous block.

 miko