CM Mealy questions second panel on constituent concerns and administration absence
Council Member Mealy expresses frustration that the administration sent no one to testify. She shares constituent cases including a grandfather in Italy and a military member, and questions the purpose and benefit of the tax for New York City as a whole.
Council Member Swang has a question, and then Council Member Wong.
Council Member Swang.
And also Council Member Mealy is here.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
I was not very surprised administration have no one come to testify.
Sometimes even they are here, they are not prepared to answer any question.
Anyway, today I just want to make some statement and also have some questions.
I wanted to be very clear.
I'm here not speak up for the ultra wealthy people who own multiple luxury property, who never pay their fair share, have 10,000 accounting, CPA, or lawyer work for them.
I'm speaking for hardworking New Yorkers who may have been wrongly identified and now have been asked to prove they are
They should not be taxed.
The city sent out around 17,000 notice to property owners.
I actually got three phone calls from my constituents.
One person is in Italy right now.
His granddaughter lives in his apartment in Manhattan, and he has another house in my district.
And he's worried what he's going to do.
Maybe he should sell his apartment in Manhattan, kick his granddaughter out from his apartment, or something else.
He couldn't afford for additional $40,000 expense for the tax.
And this is the type of people we see every day.
And also I have someone in the military asking me, does he need to pay additional tax?
This type of question I get asked, I just feel it's embarrassing for our New York City government.
We should not tax the hardworking people.
We should encourage them working hard on a house, not just give extra and extra, extra tax all the time.
So my question is for the administration, how the decision made and how did you guys identify 17,000 people in the list?
What did you guys do with those people?
And what's the next step if they are not able to provide the information on time?
Some people not here in the summer.
So what's the purpose and what's the benefit of our New York City as a whole?
Well, these people can't answer those questions.
I know.
Okay.
Yes, no one answered my question.
This is my answer.
Thank you.