The New York golf-tax threat of 2019 appears to have passed. The lawmakers who raised it are preparing to take another swing in 2020.
Their bill -- to pave the way for much higher assessments of courses -- landed with something of a thud in the state legislature, where its chances before the session ends in June are slim. They’re unbowed.
“It’s a difficult issue, partly because the members of golf courses are very prominent in their communities,” said Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, a Democrat whose district includes Trump National Golf Club Westchester. “But we’re not letting it drop.”
The debate over whether courses carry their fair weight has raged around the country for years. It pits people who see golf clubs as bastions of affluence whose tax rates starve local governments against an industry that, after decades of overdevelopment and shifting recreational habits, can reasonably argue that many courses would crumple under heftier tax burdens.
What made it bubble up in Albany was, basically, President Donald Trump.
The Trump National Club’s challenge to its assessed value helped inspire the idea that New York should allow courses to be appraised according to their “highest and best use rather than current use.”
In other words, according to what the land would be worth if it were developed into, say, a tony condo complex.
This would obviously be a pain in the wallet for course owners. As it is, Trump Organization Inc. contends its Westchester club’s assay is out of whack. The company has been appealing for a while now, saying in 2015 that the property should have been valued at about $1.4 million, or 10% of what the assessor came up with. The club’s preferred sum has increased to $7.5 million in subsequent appeals.
While it’s not unusual for a private course to make this kind of challenge, those by Trump National rankled state Senator David Carlucci -- in no small part because the president has listed the asset value of the club at “over $50 million” on his federal financial disclosure forms.
“You just scratch your head,” said Carlucci, a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the upper chamber and whose district is in Westchester and Rockland counties. “I think any taxpayer in that area is saying, ‘Wait, I’m paying more in property taxes so that Donald Trump can pay less?’”