Boston hits its high rises just when they're down

Boston Globe

03-07-2025

Having failed to win a tax abatement at the city level — and
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That alone added some $871,000 to its annual tax bill.
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A prominent Boston tax lawyer, Daniel Swift, insists that
'The city is secretly penalizing those commercial real estate taxpayers who pursue their right to appeal to the ATB,' Frank Bailey, president of the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation, charged in a
any
notice in its property tax statement, the City has been increasing the taxpayers' assessed property values for the next fiscal year,
solely
because of the taxpayers' pending ATB appeals.'
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And, of course, as Bailey, a retired bankruptcy court judge, explained to the editorial board, 'Tax cases take years and years to resolve and you have to pay that tax until you prevail. It's money out of pocket.'
There is also a pass-through effect, with some landlords increasing rent for tenants so 'even the bagel shop or the dry cleaner on the first floor is paying for this, and that's what concerns us,' Bailey added.
The foundation's
The letter does not reference specific cases or clients, but city records indicate 155 Seaport Blvd. and One Post Office Square have also been subjected to the tax 'adjustment' after appealing to the ATB.
A spokesperson for the city said in a statement to the editorial board the allegations were 'baseless and full of misinformation.' 'There are no additional charges associated with having an open matter at the Appellate Tax Board, and any suggestion otherwise from Pioneer is a disservice to the thousands of taxpaying Bostonians,' the spokesperson said.
It may fall to either the state or the courts to decide if that's so. The foundation letter asks Snyder to respond within 30 days, and Bailey indicated that, failing any action by either the city or the state, the group was prepared to file a lawsuit.
That, of course, would require actual victims to come forward to press their case, something, Bailey said, most have to date been reluctant to do — until absolutely necessary — 'because the city has already shown a propensity to punish them for exercising their rights.'
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Taking note of a number of media reports on the issue, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn filed a so-called
City officials insist the 'ATB appeal' notations have existed for decades, although concede that they might be more numerous this year than previously. In all, officials said 418 properties are under appeal for fiscal 2024 for all categories of property, about a quarter of them commercial or commercial condo properties.
All of this is taking place against the backdrop of
Meanwhile, as the commercial property appeals to the state tax board continue, the potential hit to the city's tax revenues mounts — and so does the amount the city would owe the owners of those downtown office buildings whose appeals were eventually successful.
As the
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As Flynn references in his order, the 1979
In the intervening years, shiny Boston office towers became a symbol of the New Boston and provided a revenue stream for a host of worthy causes and programs. But COVID-19 changed that equation — possibly for good — and some of those towers are now selling for
To not recognize that reality is a disservice to a sector of the economy that has served the needs of this city well. To exact a penalty on those pursuing their right to contest too high valuations is a further hit on the city's competitiveness.
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