There are two main reasons why property taxes are so high in areas like Westchester, Long Island, and Bergen County. One is the school taxes (Dr. Mark, check your tax bill.). Each city, town, and village has its own Board of Education with a highly-paid superintendent and staff. The other (sort of related) is the fragmentation of governments in these counties. Each municipality, in addition to having a BoE, has its own police department, public works agency, engineering office, etc. Talk of consolidation is usually met with anger by residents, but they continue to complain about taxes. Note: Nassau and Suffolk consolidated most of their PDs into large county police agencies back in the 1960s.
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The most absurd of these of course is the Manhattan glorified dorm room, including views worse than most actual dorm rooms. This shows that in Manhattan money can buy you anything but a good place to live.
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I see comments here on the sky-high NJ property tax, but that monthly charge for the Chelsea apartment — inclusive of taxes, yes? — is also quite high. I wonder how much of it is tax and how much is maintenance.
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And how much underlying mortgage? And then a neighbor decides to renovate and you're trapped in your home next to construction? Been there, not pleasant.
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NJ taxes are the highest in the nation by state ranking. Other states over all do not come close to NJ property taxes.
Northern NJ never recovered from the Great Recession and foreclosures are still common in 2017. Areas closer to NYC are quickly becoming places exclusively for 1-3%'s. Who can afford 30k taxes except the truly wealthy? Certain smaller areas of NJ (Trenton) swallow lots of the $$ from those taxes but it never helps those crime-ridden areas. NJ is a more of a mess than the USA news would tell us.
The biggest problem NJ is that carrying extraordinary debt that is can never pay off. For one of the wealthier states, it has one of the very worst amount of debt. Dont move to NJ. Stay in NYC if you can.
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Whoa! High taxes! I was thinking the same thing.
$14 K is high (for the size of home) compared to Toronto and even high priced West Vancouver.
Does a Short Hills municipal worker come by and clean your house, wash your windows and mow your lawn for that price?
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You are confused. The Short Hills, NJ house has prop taxes of about $40K. That does seem outrageous. It is the New Canaan, CT house (greatest town in the USA!), for about the same price as the Shirt Hills, NJ house, that has the $14K prop tax ($27K less). Fair Field County, CT is an unreal place to live if one can afford it.
NJ taxes are ridiculous! thank you Gov C. At least you raised the gas tax.
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Property taxes in the suburbs of NYC are outrageous. And they keep going up every year. We pay $52,000 per year on our 5 bedroom home in Westchester county. And now the property taxes are no longer a deductible expense on federal income taxes.
There are so many high paying jobs around this area, and therefore a high demand for housing, but one has to wonder if the crazy property taxes will chase people away.
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In California our property tax rate is lower, but sales tax is higher. Where I live it is 9%. They get you one way or another.
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"one has to wonder if the crazy property taxes will chase people away"...maybe to New Hampshire: no sales tax, no state income tax, some towns with relatively high property tax, but some fairly low ($3,000 on a $250,000 ranch with access to a beach on a lovely lake for town residents)...
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I grew up in Nassau County, NY, Suffolk County, NY and Fair Field County, CT and now live in NH after living in the Boston area for 14 years. NH is sooooo much cheaper to live in that those areas I listed so the prop taxes will naturally be less. However, NH is in the TOP 10 states for highest prop taxes, proportionately speaking. Yes, one can buy a much lower cost house in parts of NH but what high paying or decent paying jobs are there? Very few. Must live in southern NH and work down in the Boston area.
As another poster accurately put it, "They get you one way or another".
Look at the taxes on the suburban homes vs. the taxes on the NYC homes. $39k in taxes in Short Hills, NJ! No wonder people are leaving the tri-state for tax friendlier states.
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Short Hills is not even that nice these days. You have to go to Summit NJ.
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