FLATIRON DISTRICT, Manhattan (WABC) -- As a college math professor, Steve Warner knows a thing or two about crunching numbers.

After he purchased his apartment in 2022, however, Warner met a problem he couldn't solve.

A teacher who also tickles the ivories as a musician, it was Warner's book that helped him buy an apartment in the Flatiron District three years ago. But the apartment came with a price: a tax.

"When you buy a property in New York City, if it's over a million dollars, you have to pay an additional tax called a mansion tax, and the buyer pays that tax," Warner said. "So for me, that was $13,000."

Paid on his bill in black and white, Warner and his cat enjoyed their apartment for two years until he got a notice.

"I received an audit from New York State saying they never r

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