Bad Democrat

A New York judge temporarily paused the rollout of Zohran Mahmdani’s city-wide tax on luxury second homes in New York City. The tax was implemented on July 1st as an attempt to clamp down on people who do not live in New York City but have apartments that they don’t use very much (some people in New York City have long complained about people from foreign countries buying up apartment units), as well as on people who have second homes in New York City and live there. And I would actually like to clarify that the tax appears to target New Yorkers who have second places in the city valued over $5 million, unlike what a number of people and outlets have said about it (re: that it’s just for out-of-towners and foreign-born people).

The judge’s ruling pauses enforcement on the tax while a lawsuit brought by a group of homeowners included in the tax moves forward.

The lawsuit alleges that the city included many people who live full-time in their residences in its list of 900,000 people who could be subject to the tax. 17,000 other people got letters, and I think there were problems with the recipients on that list too.

For now the city has to take down the list of properties that could be included and can’t issue any additional notices.

The lawsuit was filed by lawyer Randy Mastro, who served as first deputy mayor under Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams.

From CBS: “Since leaving office, Mr. Mastro has already sued the city five times. We disagree with today’s ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City’s ability to implement it fairly and effectively,” the mayor’s Deputy Press Secretary Matt Rauschenbach said. “This surcharge asks those who own second homes valued at $5 million or more to contribute their fair share to the city they benefit from.” He said that the Law Department will appeal the ruling immediately and that that will stay the judge’s order, and that the City will continue implementing the tax.