Mamdani not only gloats about taxing the rich, he lies as well

There Mayor Zohran Mamdani goes again, exulting in stomping on those “rich” New Yorkers who don’t “pay their fair share.”Crowing that the city has mailed out its first notification about the new pied-à-terre tax, he gloated on X: “If you have a second home in New York City worth more than $5M, check your mailbox when you’re back in the five boroughs — because you’ve got mail.”Message to his fans: He’s making “the rich” pay their “fair share”!Message to his targets: Pay up, you fat cats!Except they’re not all fat cats: The mayor emphasizes the $5 million eligibility floor, making it sound like this tax is only aimed at people who can afford to own an empty mansion.But that $5 million limit applies only to 1, 2 or 3-family homes, which are taxed starting at 0.8%For co-ops or condos, which are far more likely to be owned as second residences, taxation starts on units valued at $1 million, and the starting rate is an eye-watering 4.0%.That hits a much more modest crowd than the mayor implies.Far from applying just to some oligarch who parks tens of millions of dollars in an empty luxury high-rise, it includes, for instance, a retired couple who bought a modest one-bedroom 20 years ago for $350,000 that the city now says is worth $1 million.

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Never miss a story.This couple, perhaps living in their apartment for four months of the year, or letting a relative stay there occasionally, would now owe an added $40,000 in taxes on top of whatever property taxes they already pay.As with most “tax the rich” plans, Mamdani’s $5 million cutoff couldn’t raise enough cash to satisfy his spending dreams, so he “discovered” that the moderately well-to-do or even somewhat prosperous are also failing to chip in their “fair share,” though h...