Statement from Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City, on Commercial Rent Tax Proposal Introduced Today in the City Council

“The Commercial Rent Tax is a tax on job creators that should be eliminated. Reducing the tax for businesses that pay less than $500,000 in annual rent, while increasing it for those that pay rents in excess of $3 million, as proposed in a bill authored by City Council members Dan Garodnick and Helen Rosenthal, results in a perverse incentive for Manhattan employers to stay small.  A better approach would be to phase out the tax in a manner that favors job creation. Under the bill introduced today, a small investment firm that occupies less than 2,500 square feet in Manhattan and has a half dozen employees would get a substantial tax reduction, while a retailer that employs hundreds of New Yorkers would see a tax increase. The Council members who propose the tax increase consider it inconsequential, but taxpayers react very differently. If enacted, this bill suggests that the city will raise business taxes regardless of whether they need the money – which currently they do not – and that will have a chilling effect on job growth.”