investments and taxes

I was having dinner with some friends. I was enlightened to find out that property taxes will go up in NYC by about 9% this July for condos....Seems an awful large increase. Is this correct? As a result, one of my friends who was thinking about buying a condo for investment has now decided to change her mind. She is now thinking about using the cash that she has instead to maybe just convert her... [more]

I was having dinner with some friends. I was enlightened to find out that property taxes will go up in NYC by about 9% this July for condos....Seems an awful large increase. Is this correct? As a result, one of my friends who was thinking about buying a condo for investment has now decided to change her mind. She is now thinking about using the cash that she has instead to maybe just convert her IRA to a Roth IRA...(with the obvious belief that taxes will be much higher not just for her but for "everyone" in the future) Does anyone have an opinion about whether this is wise? My friend is at least 20 year away from retiring...so has time for the money to grow not tax deferred but "tax free." Also, she will pay the taxes from "outside" funds (so will not need to use money in her current IRA to pay taxes with the conversion) Do people in this forum think income taxes will go up in the future (after 2012 when Bush tax law extension is over?) [less]