Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul have teamed up on what they believe is a genius idea to save New York City’s budget. The pied-a’-terre tax against second homes and condos will save their bacon. No, what it will really do is bankrupt the middle and lower class.

Why? Because they made “adjustments” to their plan. 

The trigger point for a controversial new tax on luxury second homes in New York City could be lowered from $5 million to $1 million of a property’s assessed value — potentially squeezing even more homeowners.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office finally spilled details on her and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s envisioned pied-à-terre tax Thursday, revealing a convoluted two-phase plan that could ultimately lead to drastic changes to the city’s unloved property tax system.

The so-called “pied-à-terre” tax would apply to second homes in condos and co-ops with assessed values exceeding $1 million and one-to-three family homes assessed at over $5 million.

Oh so it isn’t just going after the Ken Griffin and Bill Ackerman types. Nope, they are lowering the threshold to include many in the upper middle class. The details of which are convoluted at best and tax heavy from the get go. 

Hochul's proposed pied-a-terre tax:

– For 1-to-3 family homes with market value (as assessed by NYC) >$5M: 0.8% to 1.05%, depending on value
– For co-ops/condos with market value >$1M: 4% to 6.5%*

* For first two years. New method after that.https://t.co/MGsYad4tOk

— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellNY) May 14, 2026

Did you catch that?? If the current method doesn’t work quite as planned, they will rewrite the playbook. Which, in my opinion, means dropping the threshold down to homes worth $500K. 

But that’s ok. Why? Because it’s only the SECOND homes that are being targeted. How many in the current iteration? 13,000 give or take a few. How much money do they claim it will bring in yearly? Half a million dollars. Given the NYC budget is in the BILLIONS, that’s not even a drop in the bucket. But of course, NONE of them ever think about budgeting better and not throwing money after things destined to fail. Government- run grocery stores anyone?? 

Amazingly, even Democrat politicians are ticked off about the latest Mamdani Hochul proposition. 

The proposal – first reported by the New York Times – also blindsided state lawmakers with whom Hochul has been engaged with never-ending budget negotiations and whose approval is necessary for the tax plan.

“This budget process is broken. It needs to be fixed,” an exasperated state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) said, griping that lawmakers learned the proposal from the media instead of the governor.

“We should know these things. It shows a level of disrespect.”

Hochul’s proposal is the latest concession to Democratic socialist mayor and his lefty followers engaged on a tax-hike crusade targeting the rich.

The other concession she made was handing Mamdani taxpayer dollars to bail out the NYC budget, so he can’t claim he “balanced” the budget. Taxpayers in the state of New York bailed him out. 

That said, this cute little pied-a’-terre tax will net New York big dollars … HUGE. For about .05 seconds. And it’s going to cause major headaches on multiple levels. 

I had to read this story several times to understand how in the world NYS plans to implement a pied-a-terre tax. A two-year formula (based on “market value”) and then a new formula based on a system that doesn’t yet exist?! What could go wrong?? @boreskes @danarubinstein… pic.twitter.com/DCBi4CsFD8

— Jason Haber (@jasonhaber) May 14, 2026

Furthermore, people have been reading the tea leaves since Mamdani got elected. And are leaving NYC in droves. Many are headed to Miami. 

The ink isn’t even dry on New York City’s proposed pied-à-terre tax — and one Miami Beach tower is already counting the money.

At the Perigon Miami Beach, a 72-unit oceanfront condominium in Mid-Beach designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas’s firm OMA, developers say they logged more than $70 million in sales from New York buyers in the 30 days after the building reached its full structural height in early March.

The project, developed by Mast Capital, is priced from $12.55 million and expects to open in 2027.

It is no coincidence, on April 15, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul jointly announced an annual surcharge on secondary homes in New York City valued above $5 million, targeting owners whose primary residence is elsewhere.

Again, levying a pied-a’-terre tax on about 13,000 second homes with a net return of maybe $500 million is not even a drop in the bucket to fix what ails the budget of New York City. Yet that issue doesn’t even bother good ole Jack Schlossberg. 

NYC Mayor Mamdani proposed a pied-à-terre tax, @JBKSchlossberg tells @DanaBashCNN he supports the policy and he's "loath to question Mayor Mamdani's political instincts and his social media strategy." pic.twitter.com/3n07UzTiPP

— Inside Politics (@InsidePolitics) May 14, 2026

The smarmy little idiot, grifting off the Kennedy name, doesn’t even realize that he too falls under Mamdani and Hochul’s proposed plan. 

But it’s the million dollar homes that will cause pain on the homeowners as well as the economy. You add more property taxes and people will start budgeting harder. Which means less money spent on restaurants, baby sitters, dry cleaning, taxis, Broadway tickets, home improvements, and so on. Which results in spending LESS on the economy. Which results in fewer dollars in New York City’s coffers. 

The Mamdani Hochul socialist grift refuses to see reality. They are banking on all that pretty money flowing in and the billionaires ponying up without a fight. Ken Griffin has already signaled he’s likely moving Citadel Capital out of NYC. Who is next?

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click