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NY Bill Seeks Property Tax Abatement For NYC Small Cos.

By Jaqueline McCool · 2020-08-18 16:16:41 -0400

New York would create a real property tax abatement program to benefit small businesses in New York City that have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, under a bill introduced in the state Assembly.

A.B. 10936, introduced Monday by the Committee on Rules on behalf of Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, D-Manhattan, would provide real property tax abatements when commercial tenants and property owners enter into a COVID-19 recovery lease.

The recovery lease program would apply to tenants or property owners who have suffered financially from the outbreak of the novel coronavirus — which causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease — and who enter into a lease for 10 years or more. Local laws would set the benefit period and other terms by which property owners would receive real property tax abatement, according to the bill.

The bill would apply to cities with populations over 1 million, and New York City is the only such city in the state.

To be eligible, the property owner and tenant would need to enter into the COVID-19 recovery lease within two years of the bill's enactment, and the abatement could not exceed the property's tax liability.

If enacted, the law would expire after 12 years.

--Editing by Robert Rudinger.


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