An Important First Step Toward Taxing the Rich
The proposed pied-à-terre tax is a step toward a fairer tax system in New York and toward funding the New York City we all deserve. We commend Governor Hochul for advancing this proposal and Mayor Mamdani for pushing to ensure that the wealthiest one-percent contribute more. This moment also reflects years of organizing by grassroots groups and labor unions across New York, alongside a renewed and urgent push in recent months to tax the rich. This is a win for working class New Yorkers.
This proposal would place an annual surcharge on luxury second homes owned by non-residents. It is expected to raise roughly $500 million annually for New York City at a time when the City’s budget gap is more than $5 billion.
This is an important step. But we should be clear about the scale of the challenge. While the city must continue to use its resources more efficiently, identify savings, improve revenue collection, and ensure corporate actors pay what they owe, it is extremely difficult to close a structural budget gap of this size using city-level tools alone.
New York needs broader, recurring revenue solutions by taxing the ultra-wealthy and the highest-earning corporations, as outlined in the “Tax the Rich” and “Invest in Our New York” proposals to fully address the deficit and invest in the services New Yorkers rely on. We must build on this step to ensure the city can fund care, protect services, and meet the needs of working people.
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