Mamdani’s tax on high-end second homes survives legal challenge for now

Katie Godowski/Media Punch/AP

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani secured a significant win Wednesday after a panel of Brooklyn appellate judges ruled his administration can resume plans to collect a new tax on high-end second homes.

The policy, also known as the “ pied-à-terre tax ,” is a key part of Mamdani’s affordability agenda that seeks to tax the city’s wealthiest residents.

For weeks, it was unclear whether the city would be able to continue rolling out the tax after a Staten Island judge ruled in favor of property owners who sued the city, saying it had mismanaged the implementation of the tax.

Wednesday’s ruling reverses the judge’s ruling after the panel found the property owners did not have legal standing, saying they had failed to demonstrate injury as a result of the city’s actions.

“Today, an appeals court rejected an attempt by the ultrawealthy to avoid paying their fair share and ruled in favor of the City in a lawsuit challenging the rollout of the pied-à-terre surcharge,” Mamdani said in a statement. “From day one, those with the most have attempted to use every legal avenue available to shield their wealth and avoid contributing more to our city.”

The pied-à-terre tax imposes a surcharge on New York City properties that are not used as primary residences and are valued at more than $5 million. The tax also targets co-ops valued at $1 million or more. The surcharge does not apply if the home is rented or if a relative of the owner lives in the home a majority of the time.

The tax, endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, was first unveiled in Mamdani’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal as a way to help close the city’s budget gap.

Despite Wednesday’s ruling, the tax still faces legal challenges, with two other pending lawsuits that seek to invalidate the tax itself. Both suits challenge the law on the grounds that it violates state constitutional limits on the amount of revenue the city can collect annually through real estate taxes. The suits also argue the tax is discriminatory under the US Constitution because it applies only to out-of-state property owners.

Randy Mastro, an attorney representing the property owners who brought the initial lawsuit against the city, did not dispute the legality of the tax itself but sought to challenge how the city implemented it. Mastro alleged the city had wrongly flagged the property owners’ homes as potentially subject to the surcharge even though the properties were their primary residences.

Mastro issued a statement warning the legal challenges against the tax are not over.

“What the City has done here is unconscionable — trying to ensnare thousands of people who don’t owe this surcharge into having to prove they live in their own homes or else have to pay it,” Mastro said.

“But now, this lawless and chaotic data collection scheme will go unremedied. To be clear, though, the ultimate day of reckoning for this ‘pied-a-terre’ surcharge will occur next month when its constitutionality will be decided. We remain confident we will prevail and put an end to this unconstitutional surcharge altogether.”

The city’s pied-à-terre tax is expected to yield an estimated $500 million in annual revenue.

Mamdani said he was “heartened” by the appellate division’s ruling and said his administration would continue to defend the tax law against “ongoing challenges in Suffolk County — brought by some of the same uberwealthy interests whose arguments just lost in court today.”

Katie Godowski/Media Punch/美联社

纽约市长佐兰·马姆达尼周三取得了一项重大胜利，布鲁克林上诉法院的一个法官小组裁定，他的政府可以恢复对高端第二套住房征收新税的计划。

这项政策也被称为“第二居所税”，是马姆达尼推行住房可负担性计划的关键部分，旨在向该市最富有的居民征税。

数周以来，尚不清楚该市是否能够继续推行这项税收。此前，史坦顿岛的一名法官裁定，起诉该市的业主胜诉，称该市在实施这项税收方面管理不善。

周三的裁决推翻了法官的裁决，此前该小组认定业主没有法律地位，称他们未能证明因市政府的行为而受到损害。

“今天，上诉法院驳回了超级富豪们逃避缴纳应缴税款的企图，并在针对第二居所附加费实施的诉讼中裁定市政府胜诉，”马姆达尼在一份声明中表示。“从一开始，那些最富有的人就试图利用一切可用的法律途径来保护他们的财富，并避免为我们的城市做出更多贡献。”

纽约市的“第二居所税”对价值超过500万美元且非主要居住用途的房产征收附加税。该税项也针对价值100万美元或以上的合作公寓。如果房屋用于出租，或者房主的亲属大部分时间居住在该房屋内，则无需缴纳此附加税。

这项税收得到了州长凯西·霍楚尔的支持，最初在马姆达尼的 2027 财年预算提案中提出，旨在帮助弥补该市的预算缺口。

尽管周三已作出裁决，但这项税收仍面临法律挑战，另有两起诉讼正在审理中，旨在推翻该税收本身。这两起诉讼均以该法律违反州宪法对市政府每年可通过房地产税征收的收入限额为由，对其提出质疑。诉讼还认为，该税收违反美国宪法，具有歧视性，因为它仅适用于外州房产所有者。

代表提起最初诉讼的业主们的律师兰迪·马斯特罗并未质疑税收本身的合法性，而是质疑市政府的执行方式。马斯特罗声称，尽管这些房产是业主的主要住所，但市政府仍然错误地将它们列为可能需要缴纳附加费的房产。

马斯特罗发表声明警告称，针对该税收的法律挑战尚未结束。

“市政府的做法令人无法接受——试图诱使成千上万不欠这笔附加费的人证明他们住在自己的房子里，否则就必须支付这笔费用，”马斯特罗说。

“但现在，这种无法无天、混乱不堪的数据收集方案将得不到纠正。不过，需要明确的是，这项‘临时住所’附加费的最终清算之日将在下个月到来，届时将对其合宪性做出裁决。我们仍然有信心取得胜利，并彻底终止这项违宪的附加费。”

该市的临时住所税预计每年可带来约 5 亿美元的收入。

马姆达尼表示，他对上诉庭的裁决感到“鼓舞”，并表示他的政府将继续捍卫税法，以应对“萨福克县持续不断的挑战——这些挑战是由一些超级富豪利益集团提出的，而这些集团的论点今天刚刚在法庭上败诉”。