There is a new building going up in the Chelsea Section of Manhattan. Chelsea is one of Manhattan's best neighborhoods and is home to a large Gay population. This is not an up and coming neighborhood. It is an extremely desirable neighborhood and has seen prices climb to exorbitant levels. A recently investigated a new building being built called the Chelsea Stratus.
A one bedroom apartment which is around 900 sq.ft. has an asking price of over 1 million dollars. The property tax on your condo is less than $100.00 per month tax abated for 10 years. The actual monthly taxes on this condominium without tax abatement would be $2000.00. The loss in tax revenue for one year is over $4.5 million dollars and $45 million over the life of the tax abatement. I pay double in taxes on my co-operative apartment in Yonkers, NY which is a suburb of NYC. My apartment, although very nice, is nothing compared to the elegance of the Chelsea Stratus. Is there anyone else that has a real problem with this? I can understand tax abatement in areas needing gentrification but to abate taxes in one of the finest neighborhoods in Manhattan seems insane.
The reason for this post is to highlight the inequalities of our current tax system. The Bush tax cuts went to the highest earning Americans at the expense of our national budget and social programs to help the poor. How can we as a society sit back and allow these inequities? It is time for Americans to vote based on the economic class they find themselves in, not the economic class they hope to become.
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