Nothing is Certain but Death and (Uncollected) Taxes

City Comptroller Scott Stringer released an audit last week revealing that the Department of Finance (DOF) failed to collect $59.2 million in real estate taxes from fiscal year 2011 to 2017 because a tax exemption intended for senior citizens continued to be awarded after thousands of them died, JP Updates reports.

The Senior Citizens Homeowners’ Exemption (SCHE) provides real estate tax exemptions for owners of one-, two-, and three-family homes, co-ops and condos, provided the homeowners are over 65 years old and have a combined household income below $37,400. When SCHE recipients die or sell their home, the exemption does not pass on to the new owner. But the DOF has failed to get SCHE recipients to re-apply every two years, which is the law, and the exemptions have outlived their intended recipients.

“Our audit uncovered that the DOF has been giving away tens of millions in tax exemptions meant for senior citizens to corporations and deceased New Yorkers,” Stringer said in a statement.

The audit offered the sensible suggestion that the DOF stop giving tax exemptions to dead people and start collecting the millions in back taxes that were avoided by ineligible people who took advantage of lax DOF oversight and continued to enjoy the exemptions.