New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani is facing widespread criticism after his administration on Monday published a searchable database identifying wealthy property owners who may be subject to the city’s pied-à-terre tax. The administration says the database is intended to promote transparency. Critics, however, argue it effectively “doxxes” property owners by making them easier to identify and locate, unnecessarily exposing them to harassment, vandalism, and even potential acts of violence.
Mamdani is also drawing criticism for including properties valued between $1 million and $5 million in the database, despite repeatedly promoting the pied-à-terre tax as applying only to properties worth $5 million or more. As it turns out, that was part of the plan — which I’ll return to shortly.
The Department of Finance’s online database allows anyone to search properties and access the names and addresses of owners whose non-primary residences could be affected by the proposed tax.
A Department of Finance spokesperson told Fox News that state law required the publication of the property assessment roll: “As per State law, a property roll was released for public inspection. From this list, DOF will identify properties that may be subject to the new non-primary residence property surcharge.”
It’s true that property records have long been public. Even so, aggregating the city’s most expensive properties into a single, searchable database that anyone can access strikes me as dangerous. There’s no shortage of bad actors who could exploit such a list for nefarious purposes, from political targeting to criminal activity.
https://x.com/BobLonsberry/status/2082070234119188548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The New York Post editorial board called the database Mamdani’s “enemies of the people” list and asked why no one at City Hall stopped this “amateur-hour idiocy?”
Because the Democratic Socialist crew is obsessed with naming and shaming their “class enemies”: As national DSA co-chair Megan Romer explained on Fox News Sunday, “We will win by making conditions so intolerable to the ruling class that they would rather give in to our demands than live with the disturbance we cause.”
An equally disturbing aspect of the database is its inclusion of properties valued between $1 million and $5 million. When Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul first announced the pied-à-terre tax on April 15, the mayor himself said it was aimed at “luxury apartments worth more than $5 million whose owners don’t live full time here.”
A news release from Mamdani’s office at the time clearly stated the tax “will levy an annual surcharge on one to three family homes, condominiums and co-ops valued above $5 million when owners have a separate primary residence outside of New York City.”
According to the release, the new tax was expected to generate approximately $500 million in new revenue to the city.
Two weeks later, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine released an analysis estimating the tax would apply to roughly 11,200 high-value second-home properties, depending on the final design and exemptions. He also lowered the expected revenue from the tax to between $340 million and $380 million.
Last week, the Department of Finance released its preliminary tax roll which identified more than 31,000 properties as potentially subject to the tax. Bloomberg reported that this was far above the roughly 10,000 properties city and state officials had initially estimated when the measure was passed in May.
Few were prepared on Monday when it was reported that a staggering 960,000 properties could be subject to the tax. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that every property owner listed in the database will be required to pay this confiscatory tax, merely that they might be.
Many were shocked to learn that the tax would extend to second properties valued as low as $1 million. So, how did this number grow so large?
The answer lies in the fine print which states that from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028, the new tax will apply to condominiums and co-ops valued between $1 and $5 million. [One to three family homes must be worth more than $5 million for this tax to apply.]
According to New York City law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, the law that was ultimately enacted treats condominiums and co-ops differently and includes a two-phase rollout:
Because New York City’s tax assessment system substantially undervalues many condos and co-ops, the law imposes a temporary Phase 1 (July 1, 2026–June 30, 2028) in which these properties can be subject to the tax if their Department of Finance valuation is $1 million or more. Beginning July 1, 2028, they transition to the same $5 million threshold as other residential properties.
Specifically:
For fiscal years 2026-27, and 2027-28, Class 2 Properties valued at $1M or more are subject to tax, at the following rates:
- Class 2 Properties valued at $1M to $3M: 4%;
- Class 2 Properties valued above $3M to $5M: 5.25%;
- Class 2 Properties valued above $5M: 6.5%.”
- One- to three-family homes, the tax only applies to properties valued at $5 million or more.
By including Class 2 properties valued at $1 million, the city has transformed the pied-à-terre tax from one marketed as targeting the ultrawealthy into one that reaches many middle-class property owners. For many New Yorkers, a $1 million condominium or co-op is hardly the hallmark of extravagant wealth, especially given the city’s exceptionally high real estate prices. As more property owners discover they could be subject to the tax — and realize their names and addresses are now part of a publicly searchable database — the political fallout is likely to be fierce.
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