NYC Property Tax System Challenge to Go Forward

A lawsuit challenging New York City’s property tax system as unfair to minority-dominated neighborhoods can proceed, a state judge ruled, rejecting a city motion to dismiss it.

The lawsuit brought by Tax Equity Now, a coalition of civil rights groups and real-estate interests, is on a parallel track with a city advisory commission that is evaluating the system’s fairness and transparency. But Jonathan Lippman of Latham and Watkins LLP said, “Commissions have come and gone for the last 40 years and nothing has happened.” The lawsuit “is the only thing that will fix the system,” he said.

The decision “probably ...