President Trump posts he'll try to stop Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-a-terre tax on luxury second homes

President Donald Trump posted Tuesday that he's pondering how to stop New York from implementing its new tax on the city's most expensive second homes, a cornerstone of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's tax-the-rich agenda.

The tax, Trump posted on his Truth Social network, is a "dangerous political 'experiment' " that "will destroy what was once a great City and State." 

"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," the post said. 

He didn't say how he'd stop the tax. Asked for comment on Trump's threat, Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec referred to Mamdani's comments a day earlier about the tax; those comments didn't reference Trump. The White House couldn't be reached.

Trump, who became a Florida resident during his first term, has a second home in Manhattan: the Trump Tower penthouse.

Trump’s post also criticized the city's congestion pricing toll, which Trump tried but failed to stop with funding-cut threats that failed judicial scrutiny.

Trump's post came a day after a Staten Island judge, Justice Wayne Ozzi of state Supreme Court in Richmond County, temporarily blocked the enforcement of the tax on the second homes, called pieds-a-terre. Within hours, his ruling was itself automatically suspended after the city filed a notice that it would appeal.

Homes worth at least $5 million

The pied-a-terre tax was included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget earlier this year and approved by the legislature, covering homes worth at least $5 million and co-ops and condos worth at least $1 million.

One-, two-, and three-family houses worth from $5 million to less than $15 million are to be taxed an additional 0.8% of market value, rising to 1.3% for houses worth $25 million or more.

For condo and co-op units, the tax starts at 4% for a unit worth from $1 million to less than $3 million, and tops out at 6.5% for those worth $5 million or more.

Hochul has predicted the tax would generate about $500 million a year.

The lawsuit was filed by Randy Mastro, former deputy mayor under Eric Adams and Rudy Giuliani, on behalf of Staten Island residents Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano, relatives of Staten Island Councilman Frank Morano, and a third plaintiff.

O’Brien and Morano said they received notices at their primary homes on Staten Island, where they had lived for six and 32 years, respectively. They received notices "related to the annual non-primary residence property surcharge," according to their lawsuit.

The third plaintiff, Simon Hedley, said he received a tax notice at his primary residence in Manhattan, where he said he had lived for 15 years, the suit says.

The judge scheduled an Aug. 31 hearing. In his order, he cited the city’s rollout and publication of "a list of names, addresses and property values of more than 900,000 New York City homeowners."

(The publication is required by state law, and a tax roll of all properties has been made public for centuries.)

City, state expect to prevail

City and state officials said they'd ultimately prevail in the suit.

"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," mayoral spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach said in a statement. "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."

The temporary restraining order said the city’s mailed notices to residences "unlawfully purport to place upon homeowners the burden of proving" they are not subject to the tax. The mailed notices to 17,000 property owners listed a deadline of Aug. 21 to respond to the city, which was later extended to Sept. 18. The order also stops the city from posting homeowner information on the city’s Department of Finance website, according to the ruling.

Earlier Monday, before the judge's ruling, Mamdani was asked about the lawsuit.

"We are confident in our position. And that is a confidence coming from both the legality of the city's actions as well as the importance of a surcharge on secondary homes worth more than $5 million," Mamdani said on Monday. "A surcharge that will help fund safer streets, that will help fund stronger schools, and it will help fund the city that New Yorkers deserve."

Hochul told reporters that "the law is intact" and the judge’s ruling only addressed the city’s rollout of properties listed.

Hochul's opponent in November's gubernatorial election, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, praised the judge's ruling and reiterated that he'd rescind the tax.

"The court order pausing the Hochul-Mamdani tax hike is a victory, but a temporary pause isn’t enough," Blakeman said in a statement.