Mayor Mamdani's 'Tax the Rich' Plan Hits a Major Roadblock
The reign of pied-à-terror is on pause.Big Apple homeowners fighting the controversial pied-à-terre tax notched an early victory Monday, when a judge stunningly blocked Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tortured rollout of the new levy.Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi issued the temporary restraining order, effectively putting the luxury second-home tax on ice until at least an Aug. 31 court hearing about the peeved property owners’ lawsuit.The judge barred the city from taking any further action on the 17,000 notices sent by the Department of Finance to homeowners, which declared they could face a five-figure tax bill unless they requested an exemption.A Staten Island judge on Monday ordered a freeze to Mayor Mamdani’s botched rollout of new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes. Instagram/@nycmayorMamdani quickly promised to fight the ruling, and attempt to get the restraining order lifted and his socialist “tax the rich” policy rolling again.“We disagree with today’s ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City’s ability to implement it fairly and effectively,” said Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesman for the mayor.“This surcharge asks those who own second homes valued at $5 million or more to contribute their fair share to the city they benefit from,” Rauschenbach said, claiming “The Law Department will appeal the ruling immediately which will stay the order, and the City will continue with the pied-a-terre’s implementation.”The tax – as outlined in the law approved by state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul in the spring – applies to one- to three-family homes worth at least $5 million and co-ops and condominiums valued at $1 million or more that are unoccupied, non-primary residences.The bombshell order added another twist in an already convoluted saga — and came just hours after Hochul called on Mamdani to “streamline” the bungled pied-à-terre tax rollout.“We’re not responsible for the rollout,” Hochul said to reporters during an unrelated event in The Bronx. “This is something that we talked to the city about in advance. It’s up to their city tax department.“We’ll encourage City Hall to try and streamline this.”From left, economist Gabriel Zuchman, economist Joseph Stiglitz and NYC Mayor Mamdani speak at a Tax Day Forum at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan on April 15, 2026. Robert Miller for NY PostIn a separate statement after Ozzi’s ruling, Hochul continued to try to distance herself from the implementation of the tax. “While this lawsuit about the administration of the tax is a matter for the city and the courts to work through, the Governor continues to believe that people who can afford a multimillion-dollar second home in New York City can afford to pay their fair share,” a Hochul spokesperson said.The stammering attempt by Hochul — who championed the tax on luxury second homes as a way to make “Russian oligarchs” and “Saudi princes” pay their fair share — to wash her hands of responsibility comes after Mamdani’s administration repeatedly botched unveiling the levy.City officials first published a database of more than 900,000 homeowners who could be hit by the tax after Mamdani put wealthy residents on notice to “check your mailbox when you’re back in the five boroughs, because you’ve got mail.”The list confused many homeowners, especially the vast majority of properties seemed to be outside the tax’s scope of unoccupied, non-primary residences.The city then sent out 17,000 notices to homeowners, warning them they’d actually be hit with the tax unless they filed for an exemption.The mess prompted a trio of homeowners to sue, contending they either erroneously received notices for their longtime primary residences or were on the published tax roll.The lawsuit filed Friday argued that Mamdani’s tax rollout “caused mass confusion,” because city officials ignored the plethora of state data that the new law specifically granted them to make a thorough assessment of who could be eligible.Instead, city officials unfairly foisted that burden onto longtime New Yorkers, many of whom scrambled to prove their bona-fides by an initially-set one-month deadline, the suit said.Two of the suing homeowners — Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano, the wife and father of City Councilman Frank Morano — both are Staten Island residents and had their homes listed on the published tax roll.The third litigious homeowner, Chelsea resident and self-declared Mamdani supporter Simon Hedley, received one of the 17,000 mailed notices, according to the filing.A trio of Big Apple homeowners has filed suit to delay the state’s controversial new tax on luxury second homes — claiming Mayor Mamdani’s administration bungled the rollout and unfairly put the burden on homeowners.The city filed a response to the suit before the judge’s ruling, contending that the DOF had so far received “3,801 submissions challenging the Department’s initial determination as to primary residence.”Hedley had his appeal approved already after he uploaded a tax return on Saturday — the day after he initiated the lawsuit, the court papers stated.City lawyers also argued that the requested restraining order would block them from taking action on the already filed and in-progress appeals, which in all could total nearly 8,000.“Enjoining the Department from taking any action on these appeals would deprive many property owners of receiving prompt responses to their appeals,” their filed response Monday stated.“Issuing a temporary restraining order that pauses the September 18 deadline may lull taxpayers into delaying their filings, and that in turn may mean that those delayed administrative appeals cannot be processed in time to be reflected in the November 15 bills.”The suing homeowners “have not raised any legally actionable claim or identified any irreparable injury” that would necessitate removing the published rent roll from the city website, the filing states.Ozzi ultimately sided with the three homeowners, albeit temporarily.His ruling means the city must take down an online list of 900,000 taxpayers and can’t take any action based on the list, or the mailed notices — at least until the next hearing at the end of the month, according to Ozzi’s ruling.Hedley, when reached by The Post, said he was pleased with the outcome and also acknowledged the city quickly got back to him after he uploaded his tax documents.“I understand it’s still the end of the month, so there’s not a whole lot of uh time,” he said about the Aug. 31 hearing. “Hopefully, they can take the opportunity to roll things out a bit more smoothly.”The lawsuit was filed by lawyer Randy Mastro, who served as first deputy mayor under Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams.Before the ruling, Mamdani poked fun at Mastro’s involvement in the suit — slyly noting how the Adams administration veteran has become a not-always-successful thorn in his side.“There are a few things more certain in New York City than death, taxes and Randy Mastro filing a lawsuit against this administration,” Mamdani joked.Mastro, in a statement, hailed the judge’s decision. “We are very gratified by the judge’s decision, which has vindicated the rights of hundreds of thousands of New York City homeowners who were subjected to a process they never should have been a part of in the first place,” he said.– Additional reporting by Jordan Donegan
