Property taxes and hotel rates are set to increase after Mayor Bloomberg grudgingly signed two tax hikes into law yesterday.

Property-tax bills, which were sent out over the last week and are due Jan. 30, will increase by 7 percent, to raise nearly $600 million.

The spike will be offset by the $400 rebates that were mailed Friday, Bloomberg said.

“The city’s financial picture . . . has eroded significantly during the last six months,, with deteriorating national and local economies, in addition to historic losses on Wall Street,” he said.

“I hate to say it, but the last couple of months, things have actually gotten much worse.”

The mayor also approved an increase in the city’s hotel tax that brings the rate to 5.875 percent from 5 percent and is expected to rake in $70 million a year.

Joseph Spinnato, president and CEO of the city’s Hotel Association, called the increase “misguided” and “counterproductive.”

Source: NY Post