MAYORAL HOPEFULS Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota live in high-end homes — but both pay less in property taxes than many homeowners in hardscrabble corners of the city, records show.
Both men have reaped the benefits of a different “tale of two cities” — a system of property taxation that tends to favor the rich and punish lower- and middle-income property owners.
Public Advocate de Blasio owns two wood-frame, two-family homes on 11th St., in the heart of Park Slope, each valued at more than $1.1 million by the city.
The homes on his tony street routinely snag sale prices far above that, and property values have consistently climbed upward over the last decade.
But the Democratic nominee for mayor pays just $2,900 in taxes on each property — one he lives in and the other he rents out — because the city caps how much taxes can rise in any given year.
Meanwhile in Canarsie, the owner of a $540,000 brick two-family on Avenue J pays $6,473, and the owner of a $600,000 three-family in Canarsie pays $6,206.
And in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the owner of a $600,000 three-family home pays $6,373.
In Brooklyn Heights, Lhota — a former Cablevision executive who also served as a deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani — owns a penthouse duplex in an exclusive Pierrepont St. co-op where apartments go for $1.7 million.
For the past 14 years, Lhota and his fellow co-op owners have seen their tax bills cut dramatically under a state tax abatement program called J-51 that is meant to encourage affordable housing.
Lhota pays $11,000 in total property taxes on his two apartments, according to his own estimate.
That’s in contrast to a single condo in Harlem that sold for $329,000 in March and carries a property tax bill of $16,351.
Both de Blasio and Lhota have talked in general about “reforming” property tax inequities, but neither has offered specifics for tackling the politically sensitive issue.
De Blasio spokesman Dan Levitan said last week that the Democrat “will work to improve procedures at the Department of Finance to ensure that assessments are conducted frequently, fairly and transparently.”
De Blasio, whose platform is based on what he calls a “tale of two cities,” has vowed to hike taxes on vacant property. He says that’ll discourage owners from keeping land empty while they wait for values to rise, and the revenue generated would fund affordable housing.
Lhota, the Republican nominee, gave a glimpse of his approach Friday with the release of his first policy paper, blasting the city’s “Byzantine system of tax assessment that lacks transparency and equity.”
