New York State, according to research at WealthManagement.com, is #1 among the 50 states in the tax burden on its residents! As the owner of a title insurance company I am obviously concerned with the health of the New York State real estate market. The levy of property taxes are always in focus, as are […]
On December 2, 2016 Hallmark Abstract President Michael Haltman wrote an article concerning the significant new mortgage recording fees set to be imposed by Suffolk County, New York! In the article Haltman opined that the new fees represented ‘an egregious money grab and as regressive a tax as has been seen in some time! And, by some […]
On December 14th it’s likely that Nassau County will approve real estate fee increases making it the most expensive jurisdiction in New York State in terms of closing costs! It’s an unfortunate case of deja vu’ all over again as Suffolk County this week is prepared to do some of the same with mortgage document recording […]
Update December 7, 2016: The new fee discussed below has been passed by the Suffolk County legislature per the County website… $300.00 per document MORTGAGE VERIFICATION FEE effective January 1, 2017 Suffolk County, New York has announced a new fee that will be required to record certain mortgage and mortgage-related documents! To this observer, this seems to be […]
Question: How do government entities, whether federal, state, county or local, raise revenues in ways other than by increasing taxes? Answer: Through increasing fees or creating an entirely new class of fees. A perfect example of this from the recent past would be the tax map verification letter fee imposed by Nassau County back in early 2015 that was then tripled only months […]
Back in October, fresh off of the implementation of the School Speed Zone cameras in Nassau County, the following question was asked… ‘New York school zone speed cameras: Are they just another regressive tax?‘ ‘…Could it be that beyond the safety issue this is an attempt by cash-strapped municipalities to raise revenue by going after […]
