Hillary Clinton Changes The Tax Rules In New York City

Today's New York Post has an article about a change in State Department policy that reverses a longstanding policy requiring foreign governments to pay taxes on some diplomatic residences.  Needless to say, New York City is being hit hard by this change--it will cost the city roughly $260 million in back taxes in addition to any future revenue.  (What about all the unpaid parking tickets?)   As the junior senator from New York State, Hillary supported the right of the city to collect taxes from foreign governments, as Secretary of State, she has changed the policy.

The article points out:

Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, said the rules change comes because other countries do not apply similar taxes on US properties overseas, which include Army bases, FBI offices and State Department housing.

"Those countries have come to us and said, 'Wait a minute. Why is New York taxing us when we don't tax you?' " he said.

"This has become a diplomatic irritant. They've held up activity at those locations, not given us building permits."

Kennedy acknowledged that New York has more diplomatic housing than any other city in the nation.

But he insisted, "New York gets a lot of benefits from having these here."

We don't pay taxes on our military bases and diplomatic property overseas.  What is the actual value of those properties?  Are the military bases a boon to the economies and defense of the countries in which they are located?  What are the property taxes of the countries in question?  Do they have property taxes?

New York City has some of the most expensive real estate in the world (with high taxes).   If you read this blog regularly, you know that I am not a big supporter of the UN.  You also know that UN diplomats park illegally in New York City on a regular basis, tie up traffic, and don't pay their traffic tickets.  Now we are exempting them from taxes?  If someone owns property in New York City (other than churches--which by law are property tax exempt), he should pay taxes on it.  If you don't want to pay the taxes--rent!!!