Taxation of Residential Property in New York City: The Sources of Differential Treatment

Intrajurisdictional variations in the effective residential property tax are analyzed for New York City. Significant variation is observed by type of structure, by borough, by income quartiles, and over time. Cross-sectional regression equations indicate that effective rates tend to vary inversely with income and positively with the proportion of poverty households and building size. Market values, on the other hand, tend to vary inversely with poverty households and building age, and positively with income and building size. Over time, effective tax rates show a strong inverse relationship with the rate of inflation. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.