Why does DeBlasio pay less tax than the rest of us?

The current 2019 New York City Mayor DeBlasio lives in Park Slope and pays much less property tax than people in Staten Island and Bay ridge Brooklyn and other places in Queens.   Why?

It goes back to the creation of the houses.  DeBlasio lives in Park Slope where houses were created in the 1890's.

The way property tax assessments (which is the amount that you are taxed on) before 1981 worked was that the house was assessed when built and never re-assessed.

Houses in Staten Island, etc. were built later and therefore had a higher assessed value due to inflation and higher construction costs, etc.

So in 1981 when the assessment increases started by law,  Park Slope assessed values were much lower than the rest.

The way assessment works is when you come on the assessment roll there is no cap.  They simply take 6% of the market value and make that the assessed value.

Let's look at examples:  in 1980 your assessed value for a 1890 brownstone might have been $100 

While a Staten Island home built in 2000 might have a market value of $300,000 * 6% = $18,000

That a big difference in assessed value and accounts for much of the Class 1 property differences.

Also the increase in property values does exaggerate the issue. but does not cause it.

Also the low property tax in Park Slope has a spiraling effect on market price.  Because as the neighborhood improves with less crime and better schools plus the fact that the property tax is low, more people want to come to that area that can afford the price and since the property tax is very low that attracts more and more people.  More and more demand drives higher and higher prices.