India
allegedly owes $16.4 million to New York City:
Does
the Indian government owe big bucks real estate taxes and accrued interest
to New York City, since 1985? Lawyers for the City claim that India owes
more than $16 million in back taxes because it uses its property located
at 235 East 43rd Street as housing for persons other than the
head of the Permanent Mission to the UN, or its consular staff. In other
words, because India’s Permanent Mission uses its private, official
quarters to sleep out-of-town guests, the City of New York thinks India
owes it a large chunk of money, for showing traditional hospitality to its
own visiting citizens and friends.
Cash-strapped New York
City is scrounging around wherever it can to raise monies to buttress its
budget which took a heavy hit after 9/11. And the situation has worsened
because the Bush government has paid only a fraction of all the funds that
it promised to New York City in the aftermath of the WTC disaster.
Similarly, New York State has also stalled on its fiscal promises to the
city. So NYC Mayor Bloomberg and his staff have been trying to find ways
to put money into the city coffers.
India is among four UN member states
that have been named by the City of New York in lawsuits filed in
Manhattan Supreme Court this week. The lawsuit against India alleges that
the permanent mission located at 235 East 43rd Street, engaged in a
“year-by-year failure to pay real estate taxes and other charges from
1985 to the present.” The press release goes on to state “Because the
property in question was used for living quarters for other than the head
of the mission or the consular post, it was subject to tax.” The lawsuit,
according to the press release, alleges that India failed to pay
$4,876,542.20 in taxes and charges, and $11,500,159.89 in statutory
interest, for a total of $16,376,702.09. The other three member UN states
named in the individual lawsuits are Turkey, Philippines and Mongolia. The
countries are claimed to owe approximately $70 million, $17 million and
$2.1 million respectively.
One city official
claimed in the press release that the US Department of State was less than
cooperative in helping resolve the problem. “We would have preferred to
resolve these issues without litigation. Unfortunately, the U.S. State
Department, which worked with us in resolving the City’s diplomatic and
consular parking problems, has inexplicably declined (my emphasis)
to assist us to collect the real estate taxes due the City in these
cases. We certainly hope the State Department will help us to resolve
these problems in the future, but given the present situation, the City
must take all necessary steps to preserve its legal rights.”
Perhaps
the folks at the State Department thought the City did not have a leg to
stand on, so they decided not to cooperate with the City’s Department of
Finance, The NYC Law Department, or its Office for The United Nations,
Consular Corps and Protocol. Or maybe the State Department thought the
City should quit acting like a profit-hungry landlord and find other ways
of raising revenues, than by harassing foreign governments, on the
question of who is sleeping in their official residences. Or maybe the
State Department has enough on its plate, what with all that opposition at
the UN, and in the city’s streets, against the war in Iraq.
See India vs. New York
in court!
More details will
follow as the story unfolds……
