Image Credit: nyc.gov

Tenant alleged that the City’s allocation of the property tax burden violated due process and equal protection. Ernest Robinson sought declaratory and injunctive relief alleging that the City’s property tax classification system created a disparate and adverse impact on African-American and Hispanic residents, deprived them of due process and equal protection of the laws, and violated the Fair Housing Act. Robinson alleged that the Class Two tax burden, heavily made up of rental multiple dwellings, was borne primarily by minority tenants, and that approximately 30 percent of a tenant’s rental payment was attributable to the landlord’s property tax. (read more…)