Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration last week set off a wave of anxiety when it published a list it stated was “related” to a new pied-a-terre tax on luxury second homes in New York.
The list included more than 900,000 properties and was so broad it included the Flushing, Queens, home of Richard Lee, Mamdani’s finance commissioner, whose agency put out the list. A rowhouse former Mayor Bill de Blasio owns in Park Slope also made the list.
Simultaneously, tens of thousands of homeowners on the list began receiving ominously worded letters from the Department of Finance stating, “Our records indicate that the property referenced above may be subject to the new surcharge,” threatening longtime New Yorkers with a new tax if they can’t adequately prove residency…