A Staten Island judge has canceled every notice New York City mailed out regarding its new pied-à-terre tax. Judge Wayne Ozzi, who serves on the state’s Supreme Court, issued the ruling on Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by homeowners over how the city rolled out the tax.
As reported by The Hill, the city initially published a list of more than 960,000 properties that could potentially be subject to the surcharge. It later clarified that only about 17,000 property owners received notices in the mail.
The number of properties that actually meet the statutory value thresholds is estimated to be far lower, potentially between 5,000 and 6,000. Plaintiffs argued the approach placed the burden on homeowners to prove they were exempt, rather than on the city to identify which properties qualified.
The judge was not impressed with the city’s rollout
Ozzi ruled that the Department of Finance violated homeowners’ due process rights through its method of determining who would pay the tax. “No crime is involved here,” he wrote, adding that homeowners were being substantially harmed and penalized needlessly by the department’s approach…