Please note this 60% tax is 60% of what one could rent the property for, not 60% of the value. Yearly rents are maybe 5-10% of the value, so a 3% to 6% tax as the word is normally used. Still something, but not nearly extreme as the headline.
"Starting in 2015 the city elected to tax vacant homes the equivalent of 20% of the fair market value of rent. On January 30 this year, they decided to triple that amount to 60%. "