Mamdani and Hochuls pied--terre tax would bring tsunami of legal battles over NYC property values, experts say

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov.Kathy Hochul’s controversial proposal for a pied-à-terre tax in New York City could bring a wave of legal battles from wealthy New Yorkers to avoid new levies, according to experts.The Dems last week announced a new tax on luxury second homes worth more than $5 million.

But as experts noted, there is a huge difference between NYC’s property assessment values and market values, and the pols have yet to clarify which figure will be used for the new levies.If the democratic socialist and his Albany ally choose to factor in market values, which are typically far higher than the assessment values churned out by NYC’s outdated system, wealthy New Yorkers may respond in court, hiring their own appraisers.“Anyone with a value between $5 million and $6 million is going to be going down to the courthouse to fight this,” Nathan Goldman, a member of the American Accounting Association and a professor at North Carolina State University, told The Post.“There are gonna be a whole lot extra layers of legal battles that ensue as a result of this because this isn’t like the stock market,” he said.“This is a subjective number.”The new tax will raise $500 million per year for the city’s budget, say Mamdani and Hochul — who initially opposed the mayor’s tax-the-rich platform but pivoted during this year’s state budget fight.But they have released few details on how the fee, which still needs approval from the state legislature, will actually work. “Mamdani was desperate.

I think he was very interested in getting a win” by his 100th day in office, Goldman said.“But this is far away from anything officially being ironed out.”The pied-à-terre policy is already facing harsh criticism from business leaders concerned it could fuel an exodus of wealth from the city.Citadel founder Ken Griffin – whose $238 million Manhattan penthouse was attacked in Mamdani’s viral video announcing the tax – signaled Thursday that he�...