Volume 1, Number 47 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | Aug. 10 - 16, 2007

My income is real low. So yes, it would help me a lot. It could go toward food, car fare to work, my phone. I have four kids and yes, I am a single mom. So, it would really help a lot. The cost of living in this area is very high. Groceries, stores, it is all high. So, we could use this. — Ather Etheridge, 41, home health aid/supermarket cashier, Chelsea		Listen, the $300 would be great because I am a retiree. The money would be well used. My medications cost a lot, and I don’t have great health coverage. This would help me, my wife, my kids—and all residents here [at Fulton Houses]...because things are going up in price. It was a great idea for Bloomberg to give the $400 to homeowners. But it is even a greater idea for Quinn to give it to people who pay rent. — Jimmy Pelsey, 72, retiree, Chelsea				I am a homeowner, but if I were a renter, I would think it is a fantastic idea. I mean, this is a renting city, so it is only fair that both of them [homeowners and renters] get the money. But in a way they are both tokens and don’t really do much. — Renee Ritchardson, 36, accountant, Chelsea

Sizing up Speaker Quinn’s Renter’s Tax Credit

By Lawrence Lerner and Claudia Berger

In February, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn introduced a bill that would enable New York City renters to partake in recent budget surpluses by providing them with a $300 tax refund. The bill, which the State Assembly and Senate passed in June, mirrored similar legislation proposed by Mayor Bloomberg back in January 2004, when he announced a $400 tax rebate for property owners. That rebate, meant to offset the 18.5 percent property tax increase the mayor signed into law in December 2002, cost the city $250 million of the record $1.8 billion hike the city enacted—a relatively cheap give-back to property owners who helped plug the massive budget gaps that emerged after 9/11. Quinn’s bill is expected to cost the city $261 million.

The Quinn legislation, which will provide relief to an estimated 1.1 million renters, will come in the form of an annual rent credit on their city personal income taxes. Individual renters with incomes of less than $43,000 and families with incomes of up to $75,000 will be eligible for the credit. In households in which roommates split the rent, the credit would be divided among them. To receive the benefit, tenants will need to file personal income taxes with the city or state. Renters who do not owe taxes also will have to file their income taxes to get access to the credit.

It would help in a lot of ways. I have six kids, four in school. It would help for clothes and books in September. I think it is fair enough—$300 is sufficient because it’s a tax rebate and we wouldn’t want to give the federal, state or city government a bigger burden. We wouldn’t want to seem greedy. — Miguel Acevedo, 46, school custodian and housing activist, Chelsea		I think it is a good idea. There are people who are paying more than a quarter of their money on rent. But I would hate to see people fall through loopholes; there are people who work very hard to make ends meet. But it is a token. Even for the homeowners, it [the Bloomberg rebate] is a token. — Philip Botwinick, 49, bookkeeper, Woodhaven, Queens			I don’t really know, but I guess it will help lower-income families a lot. I mean, with how much everything costs. I do think, though, that it is more a token. It is only a little bit of money. — Jackie Sonera, 37, administrative assistant/receptionist, Chelsea

While the mayor has secured extensions for the property-owner tax rebate each year through 2008, the Quinn measure covers only one year (2008) for the time being. Spokespeople at her office said that there is a possibility that it, too, would be extended. Meanwhile, back in February, Quinn offered a rationale for her bill: “The median rent has increased more than 30 percent since 1999, and higher property taxes are part of the reason. In a year with a larger than anticipated surplus, it’s finally time, time for the city’s renters to receive some overdue help.”

Chelsea Now hit the streets recently to hear what renters and homeowners think of the Renter’s Tax Credit. Is it a long-overdue panacea, as Quinn suggests? Will it help, or is it just a token political move? These were some of the questions we put to area residents.