Long Island residents, New York Communities for Change, Make The Road New York, and Long Island Progressive Coalition will implore NYS Senator Dean Skelos to break up with his New York City billionaires by not extending 421-A, his biggest gift to NYC’s real estate titans. According to their release, residents are heartbroken that Senator Skelos prefers New York City real estate billionaires over working families on Long Island, and will ask him to please take working families as his valentine.

This will take place at Office of NYS Senator Dean Skelos, 55 Front Street, Rockville Centre on Monday, January 26th at noon.
According to New York Communities for Change, Make The Road New York, Long Island Progressive Coalition states, Senator Skelos recently told the press that extending 421-A, a tax abatement that provided $1.1 billion in unnecessary tax breaks for luxury condos in 2014, is a top priority for him. The program, they say, is a senseless subsidy and a costly scam.

Here’s how New York Communities for Change, Make The Road New York, Long Island Progressive Coalition say the scam works: working class and middle class taxpayers are forced to subsidize luxury developers who build luxury apartments in New York City. Beneficiaries of 421-a are the wealthiest developers, including Extell Development Company, which built One57, the skyscraper where an apartment was recently sold for a record-setting $100 million.

At a time when property taxes are sky high on Long Island, it is senseless to subsidize luxury developers, New York Communities for Change, Make The Road New York, Long Island Progressive Coalition collectively stated in a press release. Instead of supporting 421-A, they believe, that Skelos should make sure that New York City billionaire developers pay taxes on the full value of their properties, the presser continues, just like every Long Island homeowner does. By ending tax subsidies for the wealthiest individuals and companies, we can reduce Long Island’s property taxes and raise enough money for our schools.

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