Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday continued to defend the rollout of his new tax on luxury second homes, two days after his administration extended the deadline for exemption applications.
“We’ve sent out 17,000 letters and now from that we’re receiving engagement from New Yorkers to assess what the final number is,” the mayor said.
His comments come after the deadline to contest the tax was extended by a month.
“This period of time is precisely so that New Yorkers, the 17,000 homeowners who received the ‘You may be subject to’ letter, have all the information they need and also have the time to inquire with any questions, as well as appeal,” Mamdani said.
Twenty-four new civil servants were hired to help with the rollout amid the confusion.
The pied-à-terre tax is meant to apply only to luxury second homes that are worth $5 million or condos worth a market value of more than $1 million.
But the rollout is forcing some longtimelocal residents to prove where they live.
“The Department of Finance has been helpful. The problem is people are very confused, they’re very anxious, they’re very knowledgeable to start with and they didn’t know this was coming in this form,” City Council Member Gale Brewer said.
The City Council plans to hold a hearing on the rollout later this month, which will be led by Brewer.
“What we want to know there are so many things. What did the state say you had to do? Why did you use [for] the database that you did for the rollout? Why did you need to use a larger list and not a more concentrated list? Why didn’t you do an FAQ in advance? Those are some of the questions we need answers to,” Brewer said.
According to City Hall spokesman Matt Ruschenbach, as of Monday, 2,000 exemption applications have been filed with another
4,800 in the works. No determination has been made on the completed applications.
Mamdani refused to say if he regretted any aspect of the rollout, instead defending the tax as a necessary revenue generator.
“This is a tax roll that was released that had more than 900,000 homes on it and we know that the pied-à-terre surcharge is for secondary homes of nonresident New Yorkers,” Mamdani said. “The city sent a letter to 17,000 homeowners. That is a fraction of the number of homeowners in New York City and a fraction of the number that call this city home.”
The tax was part of a significant amount of state aid the Mamdani administration received to close a multibillion-dollar gap in the current fiscal year.
Mamdani Defends Second Home Tax Following Deadline Extension
