Mamdani Closes NYC's $5.4 Billion Deficit With $500 Million Second-Home Tax

8 articles · Updated · POLITICO · May 12

$5.4 billion in red ink was erased in Mayor Zohran Mamdani's executive budget without the broader income and corporate tax hikes he had spent months urging Albany to approve.
$500 million a year from a new pied-a-terre tax on secondary homes worth more than $5 million became the signature new revenue source, far below the $9 billion Mamdani once said richer tax changes could raise annually.
42 days after the budget deadline, Mamdani called the Albany deal a win and praised Gov. Kathy Hochul, signaling his push for bigger state tax increases is effectively over for this year.
$7 billion and more than $9 billion projected gaps in fiscal 2028 and 2029 suggest the fight could return in 2027, when allies say pressure for higher taxes on the wealthy may resume if state politics shift.

Are NYC's budget fixes just short-term patches that risk a much larger fiscal crisis in the future?

Is New York's new tax on the wealthy sending billions in revenue and top employers to rival states?

With a $238M penthouse assessed at $7M, can NYC's new 'pied-à-terre' tax ever be implemented fairly?