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NBC, Hudson Yards, etc. — At Taxpayer's Expense
November 1st, 2005

“Tonight our billionaire mayor is scheduled to appear at his second debate against Fernando Ferrer, his feisty underdog opponent from the Bronx. Their showdown will take place at the very NBC headquarters in Rockefeller Center that city taxpayers have been subsidizing for 18 years.”

So writes Juan Gonzalez in a Daily News column about the billions in tax deals that City Hall has given to corporations to keep them in the city, even when, Gonzalez says, they would stay otherwise. NBC has been “milking” such a tax retention deal, or taxpayer subsidy, since 1987, and is about to get another one. And the City Council has just approved Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTS) — at a lower rate than regular property taxes — for the Hudson Yards district on the West Side of Manhattan. The “tax trough” for Bloomberg’s “rich friends has to end.”

Wonkster has written about these taxpayer subsidies before — for The New York Times, around the rebuilding of Ground Zero, and about a book that says NYC has had so many of these deals it’s the job blackmail capital of the world. The book says Bloomberg hasn’t been as bad as Giuliani. Gonzalez says in one way he’s been worse: in Bloomberg’s first two years in office, “the city granted at least $1 billion in commercial property tax breaks. That’s 40% more than during Rudy Giuliani’s final two years in office.”

By Jonathan Mandell on November 1, 2005, 11:58 am
In category: Electoral Politics, Land Use, Public Finance | 1 Comment »

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One Response to “NBC, Hudson Yards, etc. — At Taxpayer's Expense”

  1. Larry Littlefield Says:
    November 1st, 2005 at 10:10 pm

    Adding it all up, New York’s state and local taxes are approximately 33 percent higher than the national average, as a share of personal income. Depending on home much Alaska is collecting in oil taxes, NYC would rank first or second if a separate state.

    So everyone is paying more. But since so many have deals, those without deals (or just with fewer deals) are paying much, much more.

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