New York Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed a new tax aimed at high-value second homes in New York City. The idea is to target so-called pied-à-terre properties, homes worth more than $5 million that are owned by people who mainly live elsewhere. Because these owners often list their primary residence outside the city, they may not pay local or state taxes in New York despite holding expensive property there.
The plan has the support of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who sees it as part of a broader effort to address inequality. According to him, the measure could bring in at least $500 million for the city, which could then be used for housing and childcare programs.
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“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich,” Mamdani said in a video posted Wednesday evening. “Well, today we’re taxing the rich.”
In the video, Mamdani stood outside a luxury apartment on Central Park South linked to billionaire Ken Griffin, whose primary residence is in Miami. He pointed to such properties as examples of wealth tied up in homes that are not lived in most of the year.
He said that people like Griffin and others who split their time between cities “reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world. And most of the time these units are sitting empty.”
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Supporters of the proposal argue that taxing these kinds of properties is a reasonable way to identify and tax wealth. Morris Pearl, who leads the group Patriotic Millionaires and previously worked at BlackRock, said the approach makes sense.
“The kind of thing we need is more taxes on the rich people, in one way or another. And I’d certainly define people who own homes that they’re not living in as part of the rich,” Pearl said. “So I think that’s actually a pretty good proxy for rich people.”
Still, it is not clear how many properties would fall under this tax, which makes it difficult to estimate its full impact. The proposal now sets up a broader debate over taxation, fairness, and how far the city and state should go in targeting wealth to fund public needs.