Some thoughts on New York's assessor and property assessment problems

Much has been made lately, thanks to the efforts of the Comptroller, of the number of property tax assessing units in New York State.  While having attention to this issue is a positive development, the focus is on the wrong problem.  The problem with property tax assessments in New York is not with the number of assessing units.  There are two core problems with our system: (1) there is no requirement that property be assessed at full value; and (2) there are no consistent rules and standards used by all assessors statewide.

Until New York decides to adopt an assessing system that is fair and applied equally to all property owners, it does not matter whether there is one assessor or one thousand.  With the elimination or limitation of many of the economic development incentives relating to real property taxes, New York's assessment system will continue to be a drag on economic development and job creation in the state.

NYS Business Council Tax Conference

Real property tax reform panel from DTF.

Interesting that local property taxes generated more revenues than the personal income tax in FY2009.

NYS Business Council Tax Conference

Interesting keynote address from the new commissioner of DTF, Thomas Mattox. He touched on some broad stroke issues the Governor is pushing, the operational changes going on in the Department,  and real property tax reform.

NYS Business Council Tax Conference

Nonie Manion from DTF presented on the Department's efforts to improve the audit system. Beginning with the information requests,  the Department is trying to implement a system that will better focus information demands.

The Department will be using work plans that will track open issues and ensure consistency within an industry. The work plans will try to impose deadlines for resolving each open issue. 

Expedited audits - by agreement between taxpayer and Department.  Implements a plan with deadlines for production and response.

NYS Business Council Tax Conference

Robert Megna started the conference with a discussion of the budget. He noted there were no changes to the Tax Law in the budget.

On the budget, Mr Megna noted that 85% of the budget gap was closed through spending cuts.

Division of Budget estimates Wall Street bonuses will hit 2008 highs in 2012, almost back to those levels in 2011.

On a 5 year outlook, the 2012 budget reduced the gap from $60b to $10b.

Mr. Megna focussed much of his comments on structural curbs instituted for school aid and Medicaid.

On job creation, he discussed the impact of the lapse of the income tax surcharge. For the future, the property tax cap will be an important assistance for business. Incentives will come in future years through the regional councils.  He utilized the words "targeted incentives" 

On Art 9-A and 32 reform - Mr. Megna had no prediction on whether this would show up in next year's budget.