$400 and Free Plastic Bags Coming Your Way?
Though 76 percent of you said you thought it was okay for Mayor Mike to nix the $400 property tax rebate in light of the current financial situation, you homeowners might be getting a check after all. The NY Times reported that Mayor Bloomberg does not actually have the power to cancel the rebate. “Any…

Though 76 percent of you said you thought it was okay for Mayor Mike to nix the $400 property tax rebate in light of the current financial situation, you homeowners might be getting a check after all. The NY Times reported that Mayor Bloomberg does not actually have the power to cancel the rebate. “Any elimination of the popular rebates requires City Council approval, the budget director, Mark Page, acknowledged. And council members, who have been flooded with calls from angry residents looking for their checks, declared the mayor’s idea to cut them ‘dead on arrival.'” Turns out the Mayor can’t impose that six-cent “fee” on plastic bags, either; he’d hoped by calling it that instead of a tax he could bypass the Council once again, but no go. We’ve heard from readers that many would be willing to forgo the check and abide the plastic bag fee in these trying financial times, but already Councilmember Vincent Gentile has filed a lawsuit lawsuit “to compel the Department of Finance to make good on the City’s promise of $400 rebate checks to homeowners.”
Your $400 Check Might Be in the Mail Soon [NY Times]
ok noklissa, point taken. sometimes my inner anarchist and nihilistic tendencies do tend to show when i get heated about certain issues.. maybe i should, um, go do some work before im out of a job anyway.
-rob
BTW, all this talk about Owners have these costs and should get the rebate is dumb.
Owners pay the taxes, that’s why they should get a rebate if there is one.
Then they can choose to pass some of the savings along to tenants if they like (in the form of lower rents or improved amenities in the building or a pizza party or whatever).
Seems fine to me.
As for the city budget… there are problems there. You don’t want to increase taxes too much when the economy is horrible as that creates more problems, but it seems unlikely all the tax revenue lost will be able to be made up in spending cuts.
I don’t know enough about the NYC tax codes to say whether or not increasing property taxes would be a smart or fair way to increase revenue.
rob, usually I agree with you on at least some level, but on this one I’ve got to call you out. You’re not only refusing (in capital letters) to participate in a mass behavioral change that is hugely important to our greening up movement and to the planet as a whole, but you’re making light and making fun of it as well.
This is a much bigger problem than we give it credit for. Apparently, plastic bags could encircle the globe several times over, they are produced to the tune of one trillion PER YEAR, they clog our landfills, escape in huge numbers into the waterways and oceans, trap and kill many different types of land and marine animals, and don’t decompose for months to hundreds of years. Finally, as they decompose, tiny toxic bits seep into soils, lakes, rivers, and the oceans.
What in god’s name is “femmey” about carrying a re-useable bag? And while I’m at it, what is wrong with “femmey” anyway? Meaning caring for the environment with this particular strategy is more female than male?
I get it – I get your choice of description as one that is, for the most part, funny and acceptable in some contexts, but come on!
I’m just sayin’.
Home owner here – I don’t mind removing the $400 tax rebate at all. In fact, I applaud it. The federal, state and city government are all in big budget deficit. I mean, basic services (fire, police, sanitation, etc) deficit.
Yes individual and businesses are better spenders. The problem is with the current financial meltdown they are not spending. And liquidity is what we need now.
“dont get me started about tax breaks for married people. ”
Please tell me more about these fantastic sounding tax breaks for married people!
I don’t remember getting one. Last time I checked, standard deductions were the same:
Single: $5,350 (*2 = 10,700)
Married Filing Jointly: $10,700
I defer to BH76, I had the marriage penalty idea upside down.
perhaps diego,.. but some people prefer run down industrial looks of city versus the what seems oh so important now the “hello i want to make my home look like it just flew on a dove and martha stewarts buttcrack out of the suburbs” look.
-r
put it this way, i bet – i have no clue btw – “the greenest block in brooklyn” is a block with a very high % of owners. can we consider green blocks desirable?
rob — Owners have responsibilities that extend outside their homes — sidewalks, trash etc. You can be fined or sued. Renters do not. And there is a very significant penalty for marriage between two people who earn about the same amount — and it does not have to be a lot. Most two-income couples would pay less in taxes if they were not married (and you can not just file separately).