Thursday, May 3, 2018

Tax Commercial Vacancies

Back in 2015, Benny's Burritos shuttered on Avenue A after 27 years in business. The space is still empty, creating more high-rent blight, a plague that is swallowing hyper-gentrified neighborhoods across the city.

Someone has a suggestion.



A vacancy tax has been on my wish list for a few years now. Recently, Mayor de Blasio mentioned it on WNYC. He said:

“I am very interested in fighting for a vacancy fee or a vacancy tax that would penalize landlords who leave their storefronts vacant for long periods of time in neighborhoods because they are looking for some top-dollar rent but they blight neighborhoods by doing it."

Now the street is speaking.

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2 comments:

  1. RMANMay 3, 2018 at 8:49 AM

    Great idea, there are too many vacant properties due to excessive greed.
    Taxing commercial vacancies is a first step, the second step is redetermining what market value is, because these greedy landlords can demand any rent they want and yet keep the property vacant while claiming a loss with the fabricated rent. complete BS all around, and it's destroyed most of NYC.

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  2. The SeditionistMay 6, 2018 at 1:48 PM

    The neighborhoods suffering from the blight are already being gentrified, already being harmed by that. In that context, empty storefronts are no big deal and the people being hurt (other than business owners and their employees) actually deserve whatever s*** comes their way as a result.

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