Trump blasts Mamdani’s NYC second home tax as Hochul scrambles to distance herself from commie policy
“This dangerous political ‘experiment’ in New York will destroy what was once a great City and State.”
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“This dangerous political ‘experiment’ in New York will destroy what was once a great City and State.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul is quietly distancing herself from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s troubled rollout of a new pied-à-terre tax as the policy faces a court-ordered pause. The dispute has Hochul in a rock and a hard place as she seeks reelection this fall against Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman. A business community source involved in negotiations told the New York Post that the governor could have trouble defending the tax while campaigning for another term.
“She can’t be running on ‘tax and spend Kathy,'” the source told the outlet. The tax was approved by Hochul and state lawmakers as part of the state budget in May, following Mamdani’s campaign calls to “tax the rich.” The levy targets luxury second homes in New York City.
The leftist Mamdani administration is now fighting to keep the tax rollout moving. Lawyers for the city formally appealed Tuesday after Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi ordered a temporary pause on the implementation of the tax while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds.
Hochul has attempted to draw a distinction between approving the tax and its implementation by City Hall. Her spokeswoman Jennifer Goodman further distanced the governor from the rollout following the judge’s decision.
“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,” Goodman said Monday.
The issue has also become a target for Hochul’s Republican opponent. Blakeman accused the governor of following Mamdani’s agenda during a campaign event in Queens on Tuesday. “It’s typical Kathy Hochul to blame everybody else for her failures,” Blakeman said. “She’s doing everything that Zohran Mamdani wants you to do, ’cause he’s running the party now,” Blakeman said, also criticizing the tax itself by saying, “First of all, it’s not just the rollout. That was horrible. But the fact is, we shouldn’t have a pied-à-terre tax.”
President Donald Trump also weighed in, warning that the leftist's taxes could drive more taxpayers out of New York and ultimately cost the city and state more revenue than it generates.
“The NYC Pied-a-Terre Tax is costing New York City and State a fortune in that the money, eventually to be gotten, is very little compared to to the TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return.” Trump said Florida, Texas and other states are benefiting from New Yorkers leaving and described the tax as a “dangerous political ‘experiment.’"
“This dangerous political 'experiment' in New York will destroy what was once a great City and State. It is pure Amateur Hour, and it’s hard, as President of the United States of America, to sit back and watch it happen, especially to a place I once loved," Trump said.
Trump also said he was examining whether the federal government has any authority to intervene. “This doesn’t work in America, and must be stopped, NOW! I am looking to see if the Federal Government has any legal right to avert this disaster, before it is too late, for the millions of people who cherish New York and want to see it thrive, as opposed to becoming a filthy, crime ridden, decrepit place of mockery and scorn.”
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