Diva Diana Gets Big Tax Cut on Mansion

Diana Ross can hold onto more of her Motown millions because she’s getting a tax break on her Belle Haven mansion.

Ross’ attorneys had argued her 12,562-square-foot Meadow Wood Drive house was overvalued in the last assessment and had not been updated since Batman super-villain, the Riddler -- Frank Gorshin, lived there.

The town has cut her $168,000 tax bill by $24,000, Jeff Reardon, assessment appeals board chairman, told the Greenwich Time.

In 2007, Ross put her house up for sale for $39.5 million but took it off the market and it’s now valued at less than half that – at $14.4 million, the Time reports.

"It's rather archaic. It was built in the 1920s," Reardon said of the house, which has 11 bedrooms, six full bathrooms, five fireplaces, a hot tub, pool, a tennis court and two apartments over the garage. "It's a wonderful house, but it needs some work."

It appears that Ross is as good a negotiator as she is a singer. In 2004, she appealed and received a $30,000 reduction on her bill, the Time reports.

Ross was the most famous person to appeal, but certainly not the only one.

The biggest cut was $3 million. The town slashed the assessment for Peter Flemming’s estate from $7.1 million to $4.2 million, which cut the tax bill by about $25,000 from its current $62,000, Reardon told the newspaper.
 

Contact Us