If You Live In New York And You Rent, You're Paying A Huge Tax You Don't Even Know About

John Moore/Getty Images

If you live in New York City, you probably know that your income taxes are high. A combined city and state tax rate of 10.4% kicks in at just $22,000 of taxable income for a single person.

You probably don't know that New York City has some of the country's highest taxes on apartment buildings—and if you're not subject to rent control, much of that cost is flowing through to you as a renter.

Not all property taxes are high here: New York actually has very low taxes on owner-occupied homes. Our property tax system is a perverse cross-subsidy from relatively poor renters to relatively rich homeowners.

If we just taxed all property at the same rate, apartment building taxes would fall by $1,000 to $1,500 per unit.

Here are a few charts that show just how bizarre New York's tax system is, and how renters are getting screwed.