A judge on Monday blocked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from imposing a new tax on around 1 million residents, who he said own second homes. Mamdani worked with Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) to implement the pied-à-terre surcharge after he was sworn into office as the city’s first socialist mayor, publishing a list containing the names and addresses of over 960,000 homeowners his office said could face the non-primary-residence tax. The tax, which advocates hope will generate $500 million in annual revenue, applies to houses worth more than $5 million, with rates ranging from 0.8% to 1.3%. It also applies to condominiums and co-ops worth more than $1 million, which are taxed at rates ranging from 4% to 6.5%.
This week, Judge Wayne Ozzi ordered City Hall to take down the list exposing the information of New York City homeowners. The judge, a Democrat on the state’s Supreme Court, temporarily restrained the Mamdani administration from taking further action based on letters it sent last week to roughly 17,000 property owners on the impending tax. The emergency order also prevented the city from imposing or collecting the surcharge against homeowners or sending a notice without first making the individualized determination and providing the notice required under state tax law.The court decision comes in response to a lawsuit that several New York City homeowners filed last week, expressing concern about how the surcharge was implemented. Randy Mastro, the former first deputy mayor of New York City under Mamdani’s predecessor, former mayor Eric Adams, represented the plaintiffs, alleging officials incorrectly identified their primary residences as possibly subject to the surcharge, failed to conduct the statutorily required individualized initial determination before mailing notices, and improperly shifted the burden onto homeowners to prove they were not subject to the surcharge.The mayor’s office plans to appeal the ruling, which Mamdani has touted as “critical revenue to fund our parks, schools and libraries.” “We will diligently implement this law and ensure that we collect what working New Yorkers — and this city — deserve,” the mayor added in a release.JEWISH DEMOCRATS GRAPPLE WITH EL SAYED VICTORY AS REPUBLICANS SEIZE OPENING IN MICHIGAN SENATE RACERepublicans on the city council have issued a sharp critique of the property tax as one that “will decrease revenue and further drive away New York’s highest spenders who help build our city’s economy.”“This is Marxism in practice: consistently promising to better the lives of the middle class by punishing the ‘wealthy,'” Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said last week.
