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"the Rollout Could’ve Been Better. Absolutely, I Said The Rollout Has To Be Cleaned Up And Fixed."

Said Governor Kathy Hochul, quoted in "How New York’s Second-Home Tax Turned Into a Headache for Mamdani/The bumpy rollout of the tax created an opportunity for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s opponents to fight him in court and in the City Council" (NYT gift link).

Ms. Hochul, was concerned about what she saw as clumsy messaging by Mr. Mamdani as he introduced the esoteric tax to New Yorkers. She told the mayor that he needed to be clearer about how the tax would be administered and whom it would affect, according to two people familiar with their talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. The governor had taken note of how the mayor, a democratic socialist who campaigned on “taxing the rich,” was talking about the policy. In a widely seen video, for instance, the mayor had decided to highlight an especially expensive second home owned by a hedge fund manager, Kenneth C. Griffin.

“There’s a better way to do it,” said, Ms. Hochul a pro-business moderate. “Point to Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes” rather than someone who invests in the city, she added.

Here's that widely seen video, which, exclaiming "Oh, no!," I impulsively clicked off at the 5-second mark:

I did finally watch the whole minute. From the transcript: "This pied-a-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don't actually live here.... This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers."

What's "fundamentally unfair"? It's a child's reasoning: If someone has something that he's not using, it should be mine.

The NYT calls the new tax "esoteric." I wonder what other adjectives it considered. Is it esoteric because it's hard for the general public to understand, or is it esoteric because it only applies to a discrete group of people?

OED definition of "esoteric": "Of philosophical doctrines, treatises, modes of speech, etc.: Designed for, or appropriate to, an inner circle of advanced or privileged disciples; communicated to, or intelligible by, the initiated exclusively." The "transferred" meanings are: "Of motives, purposes, etc.: Not openly avowed," and "Pertaining to a select circle; private, confidential."

From the OED's historical quotes, I found this, from 1866, helpful: "He had two motives in his visit, an exoteric and an esoteric motive." I like that: "exoteric and.. esoteric." We almost never say "exoteric." Why use an obscure word to express the opposite of obscure?

But anyway, I take it the NYT is calling the pied-a-terre tax obscure, and Hochul is criticizing Mamdani's communication as not obscure enough.

ADDED: When Mamdani suddenly loomed right into the camera and tapped the screen — right after he said "When I ran for mayor, I said I'm gonna tax the risk" — I felt like he was saying "Ha ha, I'm coming for you!"

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"the Rollout Could’ve Been Better. Absolutely, I Said The Rollout Has To Be Cleaned Up And Fixed."

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