Photo credit to www.capitalny.com
In 2013 we reported on NYSUT‘s lawsuit which claimed that New York’s recently-enacted property tax “cap” was unconstitutional. The thrust of NYSUT’s 2013 arguments against the cap were that it (1) harmed school districts that serve low-income areas by creating an “education gap” which perpetuates inequalities between wealthy and poor districts; (2) violated the state’s “education clause” which guarantees every child in New York the right to a basic education; and (3) violated the equal protection clause by allowing the cap to be overridden by super-majority vote. NYSUT’s 2014 lawsuit launched these same arguments against the cap as well as the recent amendment to the cap law that toughened it by providing incentives in the form of rebates to homeowners when their home municipality and school district stayed within the cap. Both lawsuits have now been dismissed. We note that while the tax cap is set to expire next year, Albany plans to make the cap permanent. Read the NYSUT case decision here.
