Some good news has finally come out of the Big Apple, at least for the short term. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been aggressively pushing his pied-à-terre tax on what he calls wealthy homeowners, but now a judge has stomped the brakes on that deal, at least temporarily. The temporary hold is the result of a lawsuit filed by homeowners (and taxpayers) against the city on precisely this issue.
We take our wins where we find them.
New York homeowners fighting the controversial pied-à-terre tax were handed an early win Monday, when a judge temporarily blocked Mayor Zohran Mamdani from implementing the new surcharge.
Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi put the tax on ice after peeved property owners sued the city, claiming it botched the rollout and unfairly burdened them.
It would have to be a real challenge to not botch the rollout of something that is as mind-numbingly stupid as this tax, which would have almost certainly resulted in even more productive residents looking to, if you'll forgive the allusion, escape from New York. That's something socialists and communists never seem to understand: that incentives matter, and if you make it too hard on the people you are punishing through taxation, well, they are the people who are the most able to pack up and leave. That's why, in communist countries, the border guards all have the guns facing in, not out, to keep people from fleeing.
The hold put in place is only temporary. Here's the interesting bit: it seems to also require the city to take down a published tax roll doxing almost a million well-to-do New Yorkers.
Ozzi issued a temporary restraining order that nullifies any existing deadlines for the tax. The judge blocked City Hall and the city Department of Finance from keeping online a published tax roll of more than 950,000 Big Apple homeowners “related” to the new tax, according to the ruling.
The order also blocks the city from taking any “further action” based on that supplemental tax roll or the 17,000 notices DOF mailed out to homeowners, letting them know they could face a five-figure tax bill unless they requested an exemption.
The lawsuit in question was brought by three New York residents and was filed last Friday.
A trio of Big Apple homeowners has filed suit to delay the state’s controversial new tax on luxury second homes — claiming Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration bungled the rollout and unfairly put the burden on homeowners.
The disgruntled owners charge that City Hall is unfairly burdening them by forcing them to prove they are full-time New Yorkers if they do not want to pay the pied-à-terre tax, according to the suit filed Friday in Staten Island Supreme Court.
Again, this is a temporary measure. The case is only just getting started.
In any case, for now, it's a win, and these New Yorkers can breathe a sigh of relief and get ready for the next round. Zohran Mamdani, in his goal to take New York so far to the left that they will stray into "HERE BE MONSTERS" territory, almost certainly isn't about to give this thing up.
Stay tuned. We will bring you updates as this lawsuit proceeds.
Editor’s Note: New York City is now facing the consequences of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist takeover.
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