ADVERTISEMENT

Trump Claims NYC Is Overtaxing Park Avenue Tower Retail Space

Trump Claims NYC Is Overtaxing Park Avenue Tower Retail Space

Former President Donald Trump claims New York City is seeking too much in property taxes on the retail space in his condominium tower at 59th Street and Park Avenue and asked a judge to order them reduced.

Trump’s company Trump Park Avenue LLC said the assessment for 2022 is illegal and erroneous because it’s valued higher than similar properties.

Tax assessors estimated the market value of Trump’s Park Avenue retail property at $12.2 million for the current tax year, about $110,000 more than the prior year. That translates into an annual tax bill of about $520,000.

“The said assessments are excessive in that (a) the assessed valuation exceeds the full value of the real property,” Trump’s company said in a filing Thursday in state court. “The property should have been wholly exempt from taxation.”

Calculating bills for the current tax year has been particularly fraught because of the pandemic’s impact on real estate. The city proactively lowered the values it uses to calculate tax bills with hard-hit sectors like hotels and offices getting double-digit reductions, on average. But that hasn’t kept some property owners for pushing for more.

Challenging property tax bills is a common practice in New York. The city’s Tax Commission receives tens of thousands of appeals a year, largely from owners of bigger residential buildings, offices and other commercial property. While some taxpayers accept reductions they receive from the commission, others seek further breaks.

The former president has been at war with New York City officials, where his company, Trump Organization, was charged with running a 15-year tax fraud scheme and his charity was shut down for illegal use of foundation funds. Trump moved from New York to Florida in 2019.

The case is Trump Park Avenue LLC v. The Tax Commissioner of the City of New York, 256411/2021, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.