High priced homes in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn have the lowest effective property tax rates in the city, while lower valued homes on Staten Island and the Bronx have the highest, a new report from the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission found.

The CBC report released this week, comes as the city is trying reform its property tax system following years of pressure from Staten Island on the city to fix the system.

Parts of New York City have higher effective property tax rates, while homeowners in neighborhoods that are experiencing dramatic market-value growth have been insulated from rapid increases in their property tax bills because of caps on the increase of assessed values in the city, a New York budget watchdog group recently said.

The Citizens Budget Commission, in a blog post from Wednesday, said statutory caps on growth in assessed values created disparities in the effective tax rate and inequities in tax burdens, a finding that comes...

We aren’t just spending too much; we are saving too little. The city’s long-term savings accounts—the general reserve and capital reserve—underscore the short-term fiscal insanity that jeopardizes progressive priorities over the long-term. The most recent city budget makes only a meager $125 million addition the the general reserve and no addition at all to the capital reserve, bringing these funds to $1.125 billion and $250 million, respectively. This $125 million in new savings is dwarfed by over $2 billion in new spending, an alarming imbalance that the Citizens Budget Commission highlights as cause for concern.

New York City should lift assessment caps that favor homeowners in areas with booming property values at the expense of those in stable, working-class neighborhoods, a budget watchdog group said.

The findings by the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) feed into the deliberations of a city advisory panel looking into revenue-neutral ways to improve the property tax system’s transparency, efficiency, and fairness.

Homeowners in Staten Island and the Bronx pay the highest effective property tax rates in the city, even though their properties are worth far less than those in Manhattan and northern Brooklyn, a new analysis shows.

The report, released Wednesday by the Citizens Budget Commission, adds fuel to a legal and legislative push to reform the city's property-tax system.

Staten Island and the Bronx have the city’s highest effective property tax rates — even though homes there are worth far less than those in Manhattan.

A report by the Citizens Budget Commission analyzed property tax rates throughout the city, according to Crain’s New York. It focused on Class 1 properties — one- to three-family homes and condos up to three stories — which make up nearly half the market of taxable properties.

Homeowners in the Bronx and Staten Island paid more than 1 percent of the value of their homes in taxes annually, the report said. Meanwhile, homeowners in Manhattan and Brooklyn paid 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent, even though median home prices in the boroughs are hundreds of thousands of dollars higher.

The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) has issued a paper to give advice to lawmakers as they consider New York sports betting legislation.

The “Hold Your Bets” paper is only five pages long. That’s short enough for politicians to digest, and offers four specific pieces of advice, including a warning against levying high New York sports betting taxes:

Revenue estimates should be conservative.

Taxes should be designed thoughtfully in a competitive marketplace.

Sports betting’s potential impact on other gambling revenues should be considered.

Legislation should take into account that gambling taxes are regressive, and increased prevalence of gambling will impose social costs.

A New York state nonprofit research group warned policymakers Wednesday about the pitfalls of thinking legalized sports betting will be a “golden ticket,” arguing that revenue estimates should be conservative, tax rates should be competitive, funds to help problem gamblers should be increased and the potential negative consequences should be closely analyzed.

The Citizens Budget Commission outlined what it said are the most important things New York policymakers should consider as they contemplate whether and how to legalize sports betting in New York.

One of the more surprising developments of this year's legislative session was the quiet death of the push to legalize sports gambling in New York.

Given the state's seeming addiction to gambling revenue, I was certain one of these bills would pass.

In a new report, titled "Hold Your Bets," the Citizens Budget Commission, a non-profit organization based in New York City, says the state should exercise caution when it comes to sports gambling, in part because of the wildly inflated revenue projections that portrayed casino gambling as an unmitigated boon for taxpayers.

The Authorities Budget Office held a public hearing Wednesday on new regulations that would require local economic development entities that disburse business tax credits to post rules, regulations and detailed project information on their websites.

David Friedfel, director of state studies at Citizens Budget Commission, also testified at the hearing, applauding the ABO's adoption of additional reporting requirements for IDAs, but noted more room for improvement, such as an expansion of enforcement power for ABO.

"The increased disclosure is the right thing to do and should serve as a model for local development corporations," Friedfel said in a statement.

In August 2010 the state Legislature and beleaguered Gov. David Paterson finally agreed to an annual budget. Late for the fourth straight year—by a staggering 125 days—it included more than $1 billion in new taxes and at least that amount in spending cuts.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was busy that summer as well. Crisscrossing the state, he vowed that if elected governor, he would end Albany's infamous dysfunction. He promised a budget that would close a $10 billion deficit by freezing wages for state employees but not raise taxes—and to pass it by the April 1 deadline. He would cap increases in state spending and property taxes. Most important, he would fix a political system mired in corruption.

New York Democrats want you to know that, if voters give them control of the state Senate this fall, they’ll act to make your apartment building . . . more like a deteriorating public-housing project.

State Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assemblyman Brian Barnwell, both of Queens, don’t put it that way, of course; they claim their bill is pro-tenant because it means lower rents — and never mind the impact on private-sector housing stock.

For another take on what guaranteed-super-low rents actually mean in the real world, consider last week’s report from the Citizens Budget Commission. Analyzing data from the Census Bureau’s New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, it found that the city’s private-housing stock has improved over the last four years — while NYCHA’s public housing has badly deteriorated.