Updated April 15, 2026, 10:12 p.m. ET
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani touted Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal on April 15 to tax expensive second homes as a sign of a progressive tide to tax the rich, but it will only apply to absentee owners.
The pied-à-terre tax puts an annual surcharge on homes valued above $5 million when there is no resident who lives primarily in New York City. The tax, which would need to be passed in the state’s delayed budget, would generate some $500 million in revenue annually, according to Hochul’s office.
“If you can afford a $5 million second home that sits empty most of the year, you can afford to contribute like every other New Yorker,” Hochul said in a statement. Non-resident owners do not pay New York City’s income taxes. To avoid taxation, property owners could make the home their primary residence or rent it out someone else who does so.
Hochul, a moderate Democrat up for re-election in November, has been hesitant to raise taxes, which the city cannot do without the state government’s permission. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, ran for mayor on a platform of free buses, universal childcare and city-run grocery stores paid for in part by levying higher taxes on the rich. Since he assumed office on Jan. 1, city officials have warned that multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls were left by his predecessor Eric Adams.
Mamdani, who recently passed his 100th day in office, credited Hochul with helping raise taxes on the wealthiest.
“We are one step closer to balancing our budget by taxing the ultra-wealthy and global elites with a pied-à-terre tax — the first of its kind in our state,” Mamdani said in a statement.
The pied-à-terre tax doesn’t apply to wealthy homeowners who live primarily in New York City. Mamdani’s office said the tax is intended to charge “out-of-city residents and global elites” who use the city’s lucrative real estate market as a vehicle to store wealth rather than use them as homes.
Mamdani has already seen some victories alongside Hochul by expanding childcare to New Yorkers, as well as plans for the city’s first city-run grocery store, which is now set to open in 2027.
On Wednesday, Hochul told reporters she is appeasing no one, including Mamdani or Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, another socialist who has long pushed for increased taxes on billionaires. She said she isn’t entertaining income taxes or corporate taxes, which Mamdani has supported.
Bruce Blakeman, a Long Island Republican county executive who is challenging Hochul, said the governor reneged on her promise not to levy new taxes.
“Kathy Hochul’s ‘No Tax Hike’ promise has expired faster than the families fleeing New York’s affordability crisis,” Blakeman said in a statement.
State lawmakers for years have floated a pied-à-terre tax, including in 2019, when billionaire Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, based in Chicago, bought a $238 million apartment in Manhattan. In recent years, local officials have raised alarms on foreign investors, including Russian elites tied to President Vladimir Putin, building luxury high-rise apartments in Manhattan but not living there.
These exorbitant units dot Manhattan’s skyline, casting long shadows over Central Park and city streets. A 2023 city housing survey found there were nearly 59,000 units “held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use,” but it didn’t distinguish how many were valued at more than $5 million.
At a Tax Day Forum in Manhattan on April 15, Mamdani spoke alongside American and French economists studying tax evasion and wealth inequality. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate economist and Columbia University professor, described a global crisis with wealth inequality. But the United States was unique.
The nation, Stiglitz said, “always likes to claim it does better than other countries. This is one area where we really do excel. We have more inequality than any other advanced country on so many dimensions.”
New York, Stiglitz added, stands out especially.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
