State lawmakers will propose legislation this week to revoke the lofty property tax exemptions enjoyed by Columbia University and New York University (NYU), with the revenue from the wealthy institutions redirected to the financially embattled City University of New York (CUNY).
The legislation — dubbed Repeal Egregious Property Accumulation and Invest it Right, or REPAIR — is set to be introduced on Tuesday by Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and Senator John Liu, both Democrats from Queens. The bill sets its sights squarely on Columbia and NYU, the state’s largest and wealthiest private universities, which for decades have dodged property taxes thanks to state law even as they each became some of the largest landlords in New York City.
