Hochul and Mamdanis new fees may cause chaos in NYC property tax system as critics wonder who gets targeted next

Tax-y Kathy is living for Zo-day.New taxes targeting the rich pushed by Gov.Kathy Hochul this week may appease socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the short-term, but insiders warned they are so slapdash they’ll open cans of worms for the Big Apple’s future.Hochul floated a proposal for a pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes and entered discussions on a transfer levy on $1 million residences bought with cash as she and state lawmakers entered their sixth week of overtime haggling over the Empire State’s next budget.But the 11th-hour pitches require sweeping changes to New York City’s famously convoluted property tax system that raised alarm bells with experts such as Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission.“Should we rationalize our property and transfer tax system? Yes,” he said.

“Should we do it piecemeal, 45 days into the state fiscal year based on unvetted proposals? No.“That’s not the way for a good outcome.”Mamdani has pushed to “tax the rich” not only to help close a reputed $5.4 billion budget shortfall for the city, but also to inject fairness into a system he contends is skewed toward favoring the wealthy.The governor, however, firmly opposed Mamdani’s pitch to tax on the city’s millionaires, arguing it’d only drive them out of the city.But Hochul, who is courting Mamdani’s progressive allies as she runs for re-election this fall, ended up partially flip-flopping as she backed a pied-à-terre tax on rich homeowners.

Mamdani quickly declared victory by shooting one of his trademark slick social media outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s $268 million Manhattan penthouses, declaring “Today we’re going to tax the rich.” “The two fundamental facts here are that the mayor is unwilling to control spending and separately wants to be seen taxing the rich.And the practicality or sustainability of his solutions look to be afterthoughts,” Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told The Post.The...