The three memorandums and one executive order call for extending some enhanced unemployment benefits, taking steps to stop evictions, continuing the suspension of student loan repayments and deferring payroll taxes
The Manhattan district attorney’s office suggested on Monday that it had been investigating President Trump and his company for possible bank and insurance fraud, a significantly broader inquiry than the prosecutors have acknowledged in the past.
The suggestion by the office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., came in a new federal court filing arguing that Mr. Trump’s accountants should have to comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns. Mr. Trump has asked a judge to declare the subpoena invalid.
Hopefully the governor will use it to buy himself a shotgun for the upcoming turkey season or something else fun.
Candidates seeking the endorsement of the Working Families Party in 2020 are being asked about their positions on a number of predictable topics, such as single-payer health care and an increase in the minimum wage. But a questionnaire from the party also includes an unexpected entry. In essence, the party asks would-be candidates if they are willing to stop talking about taxpayers and taxes.
“Messages that frame ‘taxpayers’ as an aggrieved or marginalized group promotes an anti-tax, anti-government worldview that is often used to justify disinvestment and austerity policies,” the question reads, according to a copy of the document obtained by POLITICO. “’Taxpayer’ has also become a racially coded term designed to appeal to white individuals and reinforce the misconception that they are paying taxes to support the needs of people (often implied to be non-white) who don’t pay taxes. Will you avoid messaging that centers ‘taxpayers’ or ‘tax burdens’ and instead talk about ‘public funding’ and the public as a whole?”
The total amount of money raised in property taxes by local governments increased by 2.4 percent this year to a total of $36.6 billion, according to a report released Tuesday by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.
The report found the majority of that revenue, nearly $23 billion, was levied by school districts.
County governments collected $6 billion in property tax levies, about 16 percent of property taxes in the state.
Property taxes in the state are capped at 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Local governments can vote to override the cap, which has been in place since 2012.
New Yorkers pay some of the highest property taxes in the country and the highest as a percentage of home value. Still, the last decade has led to a slower growth of tax levies statewide.
The report found that from 2017 to 2019, property tax levies grew the most in cities, 6.1 percent. In towns, the levies grew 4.4 percent. School district leaves have grown an even 4 percent.
Real Property Tax Law 1590 requires that municipalities post their tax rolls, within 10 days of the proposed and final rolls being approved. The rolls are generally searchable PDF files, but that isn't that helpful if you are trying to search and compare multiple properties or want to use the North-East Coordinate data to make a map.
This script -- which uses the Linux program pdfttext and other common Linux commands to convert the PDF to a text file, then processes it into a .CSV file that can be opened with a GIS program such as Quantum GIS or a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc.
Real Property Tax Law 1590 requires that municipalities post their tax rolls, within 10 days of the proposed and final rolls being approved. Below is an PHP script that will extract the reports into a CSV file for importing into Microsoft Excel or a GIS program. It extracts the text from the PDF using pdftotext from the poppler-util.
If you do not want to install poppler-util, I would encourage to check out the simpler and better maintained R Script for for Converting RPTL 1590 Reports that I also wrote. Both versions can also be found on my GitHub.
<?php
// this program requires pdftotext (a linux program) and PHP version 7.2
// first convert PDF to text
$pdfdir = "input-pdf";
$textdir = "output-txt";
// delete old input-text
if (isset($argv[1]) && $argv[1] == 'delete') {
echo "Deleting old conversions ...\n";
system("rm $textdir/*");
}
foreach (scandir($pdfdir) as $file) {
if (substr($file, -4) !== '.pdf') {
continue;
}
$textfile = substr($file, 0, -4).".txt";
$town = substr($file, 0, -4);
echo ("#### START $town #### \n");
if (file_exists("$textdir/$textfile")) {
echo "Text file exists, not converting PDF again (arg[1] == delete to override).\n";
}
else {
echo "Converting to text file ...";
system('pdftotext -layout '.escapeshellarg("$pdfdir/$file").' '.escapeshellarg("$textdir/$textfile"));
echo " DONE\n";
}
$text = file("$textdir/$textfile");
$town = substr($file, 0, -4);
$taxroll = array();
$payerId = 0;
$output = "";
$townId = "";
$swisId = "";
$countyId = "";
$villageId = "";
for ($i = 0; $i < count($text); $i++) {
if ($i % 100 == 0) echo "#";
// capture county - town - swis
if (preg_match('/COUNTY\s*?- (.*?)\s{2}/', $text[$i], $matches)) $countyId = $matches[1];
if (preg_match('/CITY\s*?- (.*?)\s{2}/', $text[$i], $matches)) $townId = $matches[1];
if (preg_match('/TOWN\s*?- (.*?)\s{2}/', $text[$i], $matches)) $townId = $matches[1];
if (preg_match('/VILLAGE\s*?- (.*?)\s{2}/', $text[$i], $matches)) $villageId = $matches[1];
if (preg_match('/SWIS\s*?- (.*?)\s{2}/', $text[$i], $matches)) $swisId = $matches[1];
// first line = tax id
$pattern = '/\*{3,} ((\d|\-|\.){4,}) \*{3,}/';
preg_match($pattern, $text[$i], $matches);
// we've found the start of a new tax record!
if (isset($matches[1])) {
$i++;
$taxpayer = array();
$j = 0;
// output each part onto the line
while (isset($text[$i]) && !preg_match('/\*{3,}/', $text[$i])) {
$split = preg_split('/\s{2,}/', $text[$i]);
$taxpayer[$j] = $split;
$i++; $j++;
}
$taxpayer[$j] = array('location',$countyId, $townId, $villageId, $swisId);
$taxroll[$payerId++] = $taxpayer;
$i--;
}
}
// export unprocess tax rolls for debug
file_put_contents("output-debug/$town.txt", print_r($taxroll,true));
// next scan for all special district types in file
$specialDistType = array();
foreach ($taxroll as $taxpayer) {
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/^([A-Z]{2})(\d\d\d) (.*?)( TO|$|\d{2,})/', $taxpayer[$i][$j],$matches)) {
$specialDistType[$matches[1]] = $matches[1];
}
}
}
}
ksort($specialDistType);
// then process into a nice field
$formTax = array();
foreach ($taxroll as $taxpayer) {
$formPayer = array();
$formPayer[0] = $taxpayer[1][0]; // tax id
if (isset($taxpayer[0][1]) && preg_match('/^(\d.*?) (.*?)$/',$taxpayer[0][1], $address)) {
$formPayer[1] = $address[1]; // street number
$formPayer[2] = ucwords(strtolower($address[2])); // street name
}
elseif (isset($taxpayer[0][1])) {
$formPayer[1] = '';
$formPayer[2] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[0][1])); // street name
}
if (isset($formPayer[1])) $formPayer[23] = ltrim($formPayer[1].' '.$formPayer[2]); // full street
else if (isset($formPayer[1])) $formPayer[23] = ltrim($formPayer[2]);
$formPayer[3] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[2][0])); // owner 1
// next five lines are either are owner or address info
for ($i = 3; $i < 8; $i++) {
if (!isset($taxpayer[$i][0])) continue;
// if a taxpayer name
if (preg_match('/^[A-Z]/',$taxpayer[$i][0]) && !preg_match('/^PO/',$taxpayer[$i][0]) && !preg_match('/^(.*?), (\w\w) (.*?)$/',$taxpayer[$i][0])) {
if (!isset($formPayer[4])) $formPayer[4] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[$i][0]));
else if (!isset($formPayer[5])) $formPayer[5] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[$i][0]));
else if (!isset($formPayer[6])) $formPayer[6] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[$i][0]));
}
// if a city - state - zip
else if (preg_match('/^(.*?), (\w\w) (.*?)$/',$taxpayer[$i][0], $address)) {
$formPayer[10] = ucwords(strtolower($address[1]));
$formPayer[11] = strtoupper($address[2]);
$formPayer[12] = ucwords(strtolower($address[3]));
}
// if an address (pad to this field)
else if (preg_match('/^\d/',$taxpayer[$i][0]) || preg_match('/^PO/',$taxpayer[$i][0])) {
if (!isset($formPayer[7])) $formPayer[7] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[$i][0]));
else if (!isset($formPayer[8])) $formPayer[8] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[$i][0]));
else if (!isset($formPayer[9])) $formPayer[9] = ucwords(strtolower($taxpayer[$i][0]));
}
$formPayer[13] = $taxpayer[1][1];
}
// extract coordinates by searching through array
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/EAST-(\d*) NRTH-(\d*)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j], $coord)) {
$formPayer[14] = $coord[1];
$formPayer[15] = $coord[2];
}
}
}
// extract acres
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/ACRES *?(\d+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j],$acres)) {
$formPayer[16] = $acres[1];
}
else if (preg_match('/ACRES/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) {
if (preg_match('/^([0-9.]+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j+1], $acres)) $formPayer[16] = $acres[1];
}
}
}
// extract full market value
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/FULL MARKET VALUE *?(\d+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j],$value)) {
$formPayer[17] = str_replace(',','',$value[1]);
}
else if (preg_match('/FULL MARKET VALUE/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) {
if (preg_match('/^([0-9,]+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j+1], $value)) $formPayer[17] = str_replace(',','',$value[1]);
}
}
}
// extract deed book info
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/DEED BOOK *?(\d+) *?PG-(\d+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j],$value)) {
$formPayer[18] = $value[1];
$formPayer[19] = $value[2];
}
else if (preg_match('/DEED BOOK *?(\d+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j],$value)) {
$formPayer[18] = $value[1];
if (isset($taxpayer[$i][$j+1]) && preg_match('/^PG-(\d+)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j+1], $value)) $formPayer[19] = $value[1];
}
}
}
// county taxable amount
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/COUNTY TAXABLE VALUE/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) $formPayer[20] = chop(str_replace(',','',$taxpayer[$i][$j+1]));
}
}
// school taxable amount
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/SCHOOL TAXABLE VALUE/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) $formPayer[21] = chop(str_replace(',','',$taxpayer[$i][$j+1]));
}
}
// city taxable amount
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (isset($taxpayer[$i][$j]) && preg_match('/^(CITY|TOWN)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) {
if (isset($taxpayer[$i][$j+1]) && preg_match('/^TAXABLE VALUE/', $taxpayer[$i][$j+1])) $formPayer[22] = chop(str_replace(',','',$taxpayer[$i][$j+2]));
}
}
}
// field relating to solar power (for munis that have such laws)
$formPayer[24] = '';
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/solar/i', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) {
$formPayer[24] .= "{$taxpayer[$i][$j]},";
}
}
}
// STAR
$formPayer[25] = '';
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/ STAR/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) {
$formPayer[25] .= "{$taxpayer[$i][$j]},";
}
}
}
// STAR
$formPayer[26] = '';
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (preg_match('/(VET WAR|CW_15_VET|VETWAR|VETDIS|VETERANS)/', $taxpayer[$i][$j])) {
$formPayer[26] .= "{$taxpayer[$i][$j]},";
}
}
}
// SCHOOL
$formPayer[27] = $taxpayer[2][1];
// columns 28+ are special districts
$l = 28;
foreach ($specialDistType as $type) {
$formPayer[$l] = '';
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($taxpayer[$i]); $j++) {
if (isset($taxpayer[$i][$j]) && preg_match('/^(\w\w)(\d\d\d) (.*?)( TO|$|\d{2,})/', $taxpayer[$i][$j],$matches)) {
if ($matches[1] == $type) $formPayer[$l] .= "{$matches[1]}{$matches[2]} {$matches[3]} ";
}
}
}
$l++;
}
// sort and add missing keys
for ($i = 0; $i < count($formPayer); $i++) {
if (!isset($formPayer[$i])) $formPayer[$i] = '';
}
ksort($formPayer);
// shift onto the rolls county, town, village, swis
for ($i = 0; $i < count($taxpayer); $i++) {
if ($taxpayer[$i][0] != 'location') continue;
// add array to line
for ($j = count($taxpayer[$i])-1; $j > 0; $j--) array_unshift($formPayer, $taxpayer[$i][$j]);
}
$formTax[] = $formPayer;
}
// lastly sort form by street and number
$addNum = array();
$addSt = array();
$own1 = array();
for ($i = 0; $i < count($formTax); $i++) {
$addSt[] = $formTax[$i][6];
$addNum[] = $formTax[$i][5];
$own1[] = $formTax[$i][7];
}
// now apply sort
array_multisort($addSt, SORT_ASC,
$addNum, SORT_NUMERIC, SORT_ASC,
$own1, SORT_ASC,
$formTax);
//print_r($formTax);
echo "\nWriting to CSV ...";
// print out form
$output .= '"Tax Roll","County","Town","Village","SWIS","Tax ID","Street Number","Street Name","Owner 1","Owner 2","Owner 3","Owner 4",'
.'"Mail Address 1","Mail Address 2","Mail Address 3","Mail City","Mail State","Mail Zip",'
.'"Property Type","East","North","Acres","Full Market Value","Deed Book","Deed Pg",'
.'"County Value","School Value","Town Value","Full Street",'
.'"Solar","STAR","VETS","School",';
foreach ($specialDistType as $type) {
$output .= "\"$type\",";
}
$output .= "\n";
foreach ($formTax as $line) {
$output .= '"'.$town.'",';
foreach ($line as $item) {
$output .= '"'.$item.'",';
}
$output .= "\n";
}
// save output to file
file_put_contents("output-csv/$town.csv", $output);
echo " DONE\n";
}
// last, create a great big file
//system("cat output-csv/*.csv > all-property.csv");
system("zip output-csv.zip output-csv/*");
