Why did New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani publish a list of nearly 1 million homeowners who “may” face his new property-tax surcharge when the city estimates that only 10,000 properties will actually owe it? It may have something to do with the fact that Mamdani wants to raise taxes far higher than Albany Democrats have allowed so far, and he is putting homeowners on notice that they are next.
An unapologetic socialist, Mamdani ran for mayor on a promise to redistribute wealth from the rich to everyone else. That included a 2% income tax surcharge on all residents earning more than $1 million a year. Mamdani estimated that the tax would bring in about $3 billion annually.
Unfortunately for Mamdani’s socialist ambitions, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) would not consent to this. She worried, with good reason, that yet another tax on high-income earners would drive even more successful people out of New York at a time when the state is already losing tens of thousands of taxpayers every year. Instead, unfortunately for everyone other than Mamdani and his collectivist colleagues, Hochul agreed to a non-primary-residence tax, sometimes called a pied-a-terre tax, on certain properties. Hochul’s office estimates that the tax will raise $500 million, far short of the $3 billion Mamdani hoped for.
The non-primary-residence tax 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%. Primary residences are exempt from the tax, as are rental properties and properties occupied by family members.
Hochul’s office estimated that just 10,000 properties would be subject to the tax. But when the city began implementing the tax last week, Mamdani published a list of more than 960,000 properties that, according to the city’s Department of Finance, “may be subject to the surcharge.” The list, the Department of Finance advertises, “will be open for public inspection and examination” until Dec. 31.
Why release a list containing the names and addresses of almost 1 million New Yorkers whose properties “may be subject” to a tax when only about 1% will ultimately owe it? It is an invasion of privacy, which is on brand for socialists.
Along with the list of 960,000 properties, the Department of Finance sent letters to 17,000 households, preliminarily identifying their properties as taxable and explaining how much the city believed they would owe. The letters did inform property owners that they could contest their surcharge assessments by providing evidence that the tax should not apply to them but gave them three weeks to do so, an absurdly short opportunity, as will be obvious to anyone who has dealt with a government bureaucracy.
GROCERY STORE SOCIALISM ALREADY FAILED IN CHICAGO
For some, proving primary residence may be easy: A tax return, driver’s license, or utility bill may suffice. But owners seeking an exemption because a qualifying family member occupies the property may be required to produce a birth certificate or marriage license, and many property owners have transferred title to trusts or limited liability companies for financial planning purposes. These households will be forced to provide their trust or LLC agreements to the city before the surcharge is removed. For many, this will necessitate hiring a lawyer and navigating what is, by all accounts, a Byzantine DOF website.
Socialism is notoriously expensive. Mamdani’s free buses, free childcare, and free groceries will not pay for themselves. Nor will a $500 million tax on second homes quench Mamdani’s thirst for other people’s money. The 960,000 people on Mamdani’s “may be subject to the surcharge” list have just been notified that they are next on the mayor’s menu.