Judge blocks Mamdani’s second-home tax rollout, tells city to start over
A Staten Island judge blocked New York City Mayor zohran Mamdani’s attempt to implement a pied-à-terre tax on high-end second homes valued above $5 million, ruling that the method used to determine who owed the tax was flawed. The court favored homeowners who challenged the city’s approach, which included publishing a public list of nearly one million properties and sending notices to around 17,000 owners without verifying if they were full-time residents. The judge ordered the city to remove the broad property list, limit the list to only properties actually subject to the tax, and provide clearer explanations of how the tax was assessed. The ruling was praised by lawyers as a correction of the city’s mishandling of the process, criticizing the city for wasting resources and mishandling the rollout. The tax has also sparked a rare public dispute between Mamdani and former President Donald Trump, who criticized Mamdani’s efforts, claiming the mayor’s policies are harming the city and causing residents to flee.
A Staten Island judge blocked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s effort to institute a new tax on high-end second homes, telling him to start the effort over.
Justice Wayne Ozzi of the state Supreme Court on Staten Island ruled in favor of homeowners who sued the city over the pied-à-terre tax scheme, an annual surcharge on homes valued above $5 million when there is no primary New York City resident present. The lawsuit avoided accusing the city of acting against the law, instead taking issue with how it was determined who would owe the tax.
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“Homeowners are being substantially harmed and penalized needlessly” by the city’s “method of implementing the tax law,” Ozzi wrote in his ruling.
Specifically, the city’s practice of publishing an online list of nearly 1 million “properties that may be subject to the charge,” bearing the owners’ names, was the subject of particular scrutiny. It also sent notices to around 17,000 New Yorkers, warning that their properties could be subject to the tax without checking if they were full-time residents.
Ozzi ordered New York City to take down the list and replace it with a limited one showing only properties subject to the tax. The notices must be canceled and replaced with detailed ones explaining how they determined who was subject to the tax, and the number of subjects must be narrowed.
The ruling was celebrated by lawyer Randy Mastro, a former city official who represented the homeowners.
“City Hall botched this rollout and should have just admitted the errors and fixed its own mistake, instead of wasting time and taxpayer dollars by fighting it in court,” he said, the New York Times reported.
MAMDANI UNVEILS BLUEPRINT TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM IN NEW YORK CITY
The subject of a New York City pied-à-terre tax sparked a rare open spat between Mamdani and President Donald Trump, an unlikely duo who have had warm relations. In response to the measure, Trump declared in an April Truth Social post that Mamdani was destroying the city.
“Sadly, Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York!” the president said. “It has no chance! The United States of America should not contribute to its failure. It will only get WORSE. The TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG. People are fleeing. They must change their ways, AND FAST. History has proven, THIS ‘STUFF’ JUST DOESN’T WORK.”
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