Billionaire Wants Another 30 Year Amherst Tax Break!

[PWolf]

In the City of Buffalo, billionaire Jeremy Jacobs worth $2.8 billion wants more tax breaks on top of the $4.1 million his company Delaware North has received over the years.

In Amherst, according to the Buffalo News, billionaire Stephen Ross, who is even richer than Jacobs with a net worth of $4.4 billion wants public assistance for an apartment building he owns. For thirty years Ross’s property located at 285 Pepper Tree Drive in Amherst has received a break on taxes. Thirty years is a long time, but not long enough for Ross as he wants another thirty year tax break.

Ross is the founder of a company called Related Housing Companies and he ranks #286 on Forbes richest 400 people. Ross owns the Miami Dolphins football team and recently donated $200 million to the University of Michigan.

Related’s web site describes the company as:
“Today, Related owns and operates a premier portfolio of high quality assets valued at over $15 billion. With offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, San Paolo and Shanghai, Related manages an operating portfolio that includes luxury residential, affordable and workforce apartments, commercial, retail and mixed-use developments.”

Without a tax break Billionaire Ross would pay $67,484.50 in town/county taxes in 2013 for his property assessed at $4.7 million and $106,408 for school taxes. Instead Ross pays $23,118.10 in town/county taxes and pays $0 in school tax. Ross is receiving a tax break of $150,774.50 in 2013 and has received a tax break every year for thirty years.

MJ Peterson has also been receiving a thirty year tax break on their apartment complex located at 501-511 Robin and 910-937 Robin, which they also want to extend for another thirty years. Without a tax break MJ Peterson would pay $52,424 in town/county taxes in 2013 for 501-511 Robin assessed at $3.5 million and $66,573.90 in school taxes. Instead MJ Peterson pays $19,105.70 in town/county taxes and $0 in school tax. MJ Peterson is receiving a tax break of $99,892.20 per year and has received a break every year for thirty years.

Without a tax break MJ Peterson would pay $54,207 in town/county taxes in 2013 for 910-937 Robin assessed at $3.6 million and $69,530.40 in school taxes. Instead MJ Peterson pays $19,409.10 in town/county taxes and $0 in school tax. MJ Peterson is receiving a tax break of $104,328.30 per year and has received a break every year for thirty years.

Between the three properties the town/county and school district are losing $354,995 in 2013 alone. For thirty years Ross and MJ Peterson have received tax breaks which have allowed them to pay $0 for school taxes. Meanwhile I and every other property owner pays thousands of dollars in school taxes. Enough already, the Amherst Town Board should deny the request for another thirty year tax abatement to Ross and MJ Peterson.

What do you think?
www.reinventinggov.org

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Here is the problem with people like you.....

Both Related Housing and MJ Peterson should pay the full tax rate on the units as they got 30 years of breaks. But there is no need or reason to even mention the net worth of the person who owns Related. There is no need to inject the fact that you pay taxes.

When people like you add this to the conversation...you actually do more harm than good and weaken your argument. By expanding the argument, you actually weaken the main and only point that matters. Their 30 years is up.

[WNYresident]

I"m telling you we need to abolish or seriously LIMIT what IDA tax breaks can be used for.

[grump]

I"m telling you we need to abolish or seriously LIMIT what IDA tax breaks can be used for.

Then run for the state legislature, get elected, introduce the legislation, find a credible sponsor in the other house of the legislature, get it passed in both houses and get the governor to sign it. Should be a snap.

[grump]

I love people who start threads like this to complain about people getting tax breaks but who will themselves grovel for publicly funded do nothing jobs for themselves.

[WNYresident]

Then run for the state legislature, get elected, introduce the legislation, find a credible sponsor in the other house of the legislature, get it passed in both houses and get the governor to sign it. Should be a snap.

I think more can be accomplished by being a party boss.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

I"m telling you we need to abolish or seriously LIMIT what IDA tax breaks can be used for.

Saying you want to limit IDA breaks is like saying the primary focus of Cancer research should be to make chemotherapy produce less side effects.

You know where they don't complain about IDAs? Places that don't need IDAs to compete because they have a healthy business climate.

[gorja]

What is the premise that Ross's requested tax break extension based on? There is no legitimate reason to grant the tax break.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

What is the premise that Ross's requested tax break extension based on? There is no legitimate reason to grant the tax break.

They are saying that they want to upgrade the property.

[4248]

I think more can be accomplished by being a party boss.

Don't get distracted - "Party Boss"

[Genoobie]

They should get a tax break and pull the money from the teacher retirement system! They should also fire any public employee making over $40,000.

[WNYresident]

They should get a tax break and pull the money from the teacher retirement system! They should also fire any public employee making over $40,000.

No that would be silly.

You pull the tax break which is just enabling status quo to continue. You really need to review all public employees salaries. A step forward would be to convert all and I mean ALL public sector employees and elected officials to 401k's. No grand fathering. Have to start being proactive.

[FMD]

They are saying that they want to upgrade the property.

I as a homeowner, if I want to upgrade my property, such as adding a pool, putting on an addition ect, my taxes INCREASE! So why should a comercial entity get a decrease in taxes for upgrading property, when homeowners get penalized for upgrading theirs?

[Genoobie]

No that would be silly.

You pull the tax break which is just enabling status quo to continue. You really need to review all public employees salaries. A step forward would be to convert all and I mean ALL public sector employees and elected officials to 401k's. No grand fathering. Have to start being proactive.

How is a pension system different than a 401k? Where does the employer contribution go? It goes into the market. If you dissolved the NYS Teacher Retirement System, the market would collapse. Why? There's a lot of money in the Teacher Retirement System. Go ahead, I'm all for this transfer. I would personally love to see the collapse of big finance.

[FMD]

Genoobie, be careful what you wish for...

Seriuosly.

Right now there is a derivitives bubble worth hundreds of trillions.

Stock market at 16k +

It's going to collapse, and when it does, it will make the crash of '31 look like a joke. May even kick off world war 3!

We are living in a time that we have never seen before, the stock market crash, the crash of the dollar hyper deflation followed by hyper inflation, world war 3, civil war 2.

This stuff is going to get ugly!