Post by dgriffin on Apr 27, 2011 22:28:31 GMT -5
Things just keep getting worse for NY taxpayers. And not just for taxpayers who earn over $500 K per year. Note the paragraphs I've bolded.
Changes coming for STAR tax relief.
Written by
Joseph Spector
jspector@gannett.com
STAR Qualified Households
ALBANY -- Municipalities in New York are working at a hurried pace this week to determine whether more than 141,000 homeowners are still eligible to receive tax breaks on their school property taxes.
The frenetic situation comes as the state has struggled to identify homeowners who earn more than $500,000 a year and thus would no longer be eligible to receive the STAR property-tax exemption. That's because a state law was passed last year to end the property-tax breaks for those earning more than $500,000. It will save the state about $40 million a year.
Meanwhile, the recently approved state budget includes a provision that will cap the growth in STAR rebates to 2 percent a year, which will limit the benefits some homeowners receive in their school tax bills in September.
In Broome County, the state Department of Taxation and Finance has identified 166 households as earning above $500,000 a year, based on 2009 tax returns. At the same time, 36,321 households are eligible for the STAR exemption.
Previously, there were no income restrictions on the benefit, which provides an average of $681 in property-tax breaks to more than 2.5 million homeowners across the state.
According to the tax department, nearly 44,000 households across the state earn more than $500,000, while about 2.4 million qualify for the exemption. It has been left to local governments to determine whether roughly another 141,000 households can still qualify.
The uncertainty has left mainly town governments that handle tax assessments scrambling with less than one week before most tax rolls have to be finalized by Sunday.
The trouble has been largely in wealthy communities. Some towns in Westchester County have sent letters to homeowners urging them to come in and verify their incomes.
"Oh my gosh, I have seven phone lines in my office. They are ringing off the hook," said Edye McCarthy, the assessor of Greenburgh in Westchester County.
The state said it could not determine whether 6,547 homeowners in Greenburgh earned more than $500,000 in 2009. McCarthy said she was able to whittle the number to about 2,700, but that still has meant long lines at Town Hall and weekend hours to handle the flow of customers.
The problem, officials said, is that the state has been trying to determine homeowners' incomes by using property tax and income-tax records. Any slight deviation between those records -- a missing middle initial, for example -- makes it impossible to verify income.
"The problem is you are dealing with two different databases that weren't meant to be meshed," said Thomas Frey, executive director of the state Assessors' Association. "The smallest detail will make it undetermined."
Outside of New York City, Westchester had the highest number of people who didn't qualify for STAR, at 9,518 households --- followed by Nassau, Suffolk, Erie and Monroe counties. Nassau County had the highest number of people whose incomes couldn't be determined, followed by Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland, according to state data analyzed by Gannett's Albany Bureau.
Scott Shedler, the town assessor in Ramapo, Rockland County, said his office has started calling people at home after sending out letters. The town had about 3,000 people whose income couldn't be determined.
"We want to try to reach as many people as we can," Shedler said. "Because what ends up happening is the reality comes in September when they get their bill and now this $1,000 (higher property tax) gets added on and they realize they don't have the exemption."
The state originally sent out an incorrect list of STAR recipients to the assessors in February. It corrected the mistake and said the latest list is accurate.
"There was a data error that occurred in the first batch of data to the assessors," said Geoffrey Gloak, spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance. "And we corrected the error and we have provided the correct list to the assessors."
Meanwhile, those who make less than $500,000 could still see their STAR benefits altered this year. The state budget included a provision to save the state $125 million this year by capping the growth of STAR benefits to 2 percent a year.
The move aims to curb growth in tax breaks for homeowners whose property values declined dramatically. But the adjustment could mean higher property-tax bills for some homeowners -- even as Gov. Andrew Cuomo seeks a separate cap on the growth of property taxes.
Some school groups have urged the state to eliminate STAR in favor of tying property taxes to household incomes.
"This is reform at the edges," Frank Mauro, executive director of the union-backed Fiscal Policy Institute, said of the cap on STAR benefits.
"The fundamental illogic of STAR remains. But the problem is because it gives benefits to almost everyone in the state, it's a very popular program and difficult to reform."
STAR, enacted in 1997, costs the state about $3.3 billion a year, up 32 percent over the past decade, according to state budget documents.
Ron Deutsch
New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness
212 Great Oaks Blvd
Albany, NY 12203
518-452-2130
518-869-8649 (fax)
518-469-6769 (cell)
Changes coming for STAR tax relief.
Written by
Joseph Spector
jspector@gannett.com
STAR Qualified Households
ALBANY -- Municipalities in New York are working at a hurried pace this week to determine whether more than 141,000 homeowners are still eligible to receive tax breaks on their school property taxes.
The frenetic situation comes as the state has struggled to identify homeowners who earn more than $500,000 a year and thus would no longer be eligible to receive the STAR property-tax exemption. That's because a state law was passed last year to end the property-tax breaks for those earning more than $500,000. It will save the state about $40 million a year.
Meanwhile, the recently approved state budget includes a provision that will cap the growth in STAR rebates to 2 percent a year, which will limit the benefits some homeowners receive in their school tax bills in September.
In Broome County, the state Department of Taxation and Finance has identified 166 households as earning above $500,000 a year, based on 2009 tax returns. At the same time, 36,321 households are eligible for the STAR exemption.
Previously, there were no income restrictions on the benefit, which provides an average of $681 in property-tax breaks to more than 2.5 million homeowners across the state.
According to the tax department, nearly 44,000 households across the state earn more than $500,000, while about 2.4 million qualify for the exemption. It has been left to local governments to determine whether roughly another 141,000 households can still qualify.
The uncertainty has left mainly town governments that handle tax assessments scrambling with less than one week before most tax rolls have to be finalized by Sunday.
The trouble has been largely in wealthy communities. Some towns in Westchester County have sent letters to homeowners urging them to come in and verify their incomes.
"Oh my gosh, I have seven phone lines in my office. They are ringing off the hook," said Edye McCarthy, the assessor of Greenburgh in Westchester County.
The state said it could not determine whether 6,547 homeowners in Greenburgh earned more than $500,000 in 2009. McCarthy said she was able to whittle the number to about 2,700, but that still has meant long lines at Town Hall and weekend hours to handle the flow of customers.
The problem, officials said, is that the state has been trying to determine homeowners' incomes by using property tax and income-tax records. Any slight deviation between those records -- a missing middle initial, for example -- makes it impossible to verify income.
"The problem is you are dealing with two different databases that weren't meant to be meshed," said Thomas Frey, executive director of the state Assessors' Association. "The smallest detail will make it undetermined."
Outside of New York City, Westchester had the highest number of people who didn't qualify for STAR, at 9,518 households --- followed by Nassau, Suffolk, Erie and Monroe counties. Nassau County had the highest number of people whose incomes couldn't be determined, followed by Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland, according to state data analyzed by Gannett's Albany Bureau.
Scott Shedler, the town assessor in Ramapo, Rockland County, said his office has started calling people at home after sending out letters. The town had about 3,000 people whose income couldn't be determined.
"We want to try to reach as many people as we can," Shedler said. "Because what ends up happening is the reality comes in September when they get their bill and now this $1,000 (higher property tax) gets added on and they realize they don't have the exemption."
The state originally sent out an incorrect list of STAR recipients to the assessors in February. It corrected the mistake and said the latest list is accurate.
"There was a data error that occurred in the first batch of data to the assessors," said Geoffrey Gloak, spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance. "And we corrected the error and we have provided the correct list to the assessors."
Meanwhile, those who make less than $500,000 could still see their STAR benefits altered this year. The state budget included a provision to save the state $125 million this year by capping the growth of STAR benefits to 2 percent a year.
The move aims to curb growth in tax breaks for homeowners whose property values declined dramatically. But the adjustment could mean higher property-tax bills for some homeowners -- even as Gov. Andrew Cuomo seeks a separate cap on the growth of property taxes.
Some school groups have urged the state to eliminate STAR in favor of tying property taxes to household incomes.
"This is reform at the edges," Frank Mauro, executive director of the union-backed Fiscal Policy Institute, said of the cap on STAR benefits.
"The fundamental illogic of STAR remains. But the problem is because it gives benefits to almost everyone in the state, it's a very popular program and difficult to reform."
STAR, enacted in 1997, costs the state about $3.3 billion a year, up 32 percent over the past decade, according to state budget documents.
Ron Deutsch
New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness
212 Great Oaks Blvd
Albany, NY 12203
518-452-2130
518-869-8649 (fax)
518-469-6769 (cell)
