Government Alert: City cuts commercial rent tax by $16 million; 3,300 businesses exempt as of December; further reductions possible this spring.(New York City)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Publication: Crain's New York Business

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Crain Communications, Inc.

The city council approved a $16 million reduction in the commercial rent tax, which now affects 12,000 commercial lease holders in Manhattan south of 96th Street. The action exempts 3,300 of those renters from the tax.

The reduction, which is retroactive to Dec. 1, was part of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's original 2000-01 budget proposal, but was eliminated last summer due to the prospect of looming future year deficits. The mayor also proposed a four-year elimination of the tax, which raises $430 million a year, but future reductions are not part of the current bill.

Council officials say they expect further CRT reductions to be taken up in the spring, when the 2001-02 budget is...

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