Topline
President Donald Trump said he was looking into ways to “avert” the implementation of New York City’s pied-a-terre tax—the tax on second homes owned by out-of-state residents that has served as a centerpiece to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda and proven controversial among some of the city’s wealthiest residents.
Trump raged against the tax on second homes for out-of-state residents pushed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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Key Facts
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed without offering evidence the tax is costing New York a “fortune,” while also claiming, again without offering evidence, the amount levied from the tax would be “very little compared to to [sic] the TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return.”
Trump’s statement comes one day after a judge on Staten Island blocked the new tax after a lawsuit was brought by homeowners—although that order was stayed just hours later after the Mamdani administration appealed the ruling.
The tax, which was signed into law by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in May as part of the state budget, charges an annual tax on second homes valued at over $5 million and is expected to bring in $500 million per year, according to the city’s estimates.
It is unclear what federal authority Trump could attempt to use to block a local tax law.
Crucial Quote
When reached for comment, Mamdani’s press office pointed to remarks the mayor made yesterday at a press conference after the judge’s ruling in the Staten Island lawsuit. “We are confident in our position,” Mamdani told reporters on Monday, after saying his office would “vigorously defend” the tax in court. “And that is a confidence coming from both the legality of the City’s actions as well as the importance of a surcharge on secondary homes worth more than $5 million, a surcharge that will help fund safer streets, that will help fund stronger schools, and it will help fund the city that New Yorkers deserve,” Mamdani added. Trump, on the other hand, sounded apocalyptic about the new tax, promising that “Financial, and then Social, RUIN, is a 100% certainty,” and later claiming he didn’t want the city to become a “filthy, crime ridden, decrepit place of mockery and scorn.”
Key Background
Mamdani announced the new tax in April, spreading the word with a video posted on social media filmed in front of the building housing billionaire Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s penthouse on Midtown’s Billionaire’s Row. Griffin lives in Miami, but his apartment, which he bought for about $240 million in 2019, was the most expensive home ever sold in U.S. history. Trump raged at the tax plan in April, despite a previously cordial relationship with Mamdani. Griffin even suggested his plans for a $6 billion Citadel expansion in New York could be in jeopardy over the planned taxes. However, a later Forbes estimate found the planned taxes on Griffin’s penthouse would barely impact the billionaire’s fortune—costing him about $12.9 million. Forbes estimates Griffin’s net worth at $52 billion, making him the 35th-wealthiest person in the world as of Tuesday.
Further Reading
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