Trump Lambasts Pied-à-terre Tax He Will Likely Have To Pay

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump railed against New York City’s new pied-à-terre tax Tuesday — and pondered whether the federal government might be able to block the surcharge on pricey second homes.

Trump’s comments came after a Staten Island judge briefly halted the city’s rollout of the tax in response to a lawsuit from New York City homeowners challenging City Hall’s implementation. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration quickly moved to appeal that ruling, allowing the rollout of the tax to proceed until the matter goes before a higher court.

Trump called the surcharge, which applies to second homes worth more than $5 million, a “dangerous political ‘experiment’” that will “destroy what was once a great City and State.”

The president’s Trump Tower penthouse is likely subject to the tax. Condos and co-ops with a market value of at least $1 million, as assigned by the Department of Finance, are subject to the surcharge, and Trump’s penthouse has an assigned market value of about $6 million. (DOF market values are often significantly lower than what a property would actually sell for.)

“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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Mamdani championed the pied-à-terre tax, which was approved by state lawmakers in Albany this past spring. He had sought to win broader tax hikes on corporations and wealthy New Yorkers, but celebrated the new second-home surcharge as helping fulfill his pledge to tax the rich and boost the city’s cash-strapped coffers.

The president, who had been a lifelong New Yorker, changed his primary residence from Trump Tower to Palm Beach, Florida, in 2019.

“Financial, and then Social, RUIN, is a 100% certainty - And then the Radical Left Jihadists charge Congestion Pricing on top of everything else,” Trump warned.

Trump tried to terminate federal approval of congestion pricing after it took effect in January 2025, but a federal judge blocked the attempt to shut the program down. The program applies a surcharge on drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.

The pied-à-terre lawsuit, filed last Friday, takes specific issue with the publication of more than 900,000 properties that could fall under the pied-à-terre tax, and letters to some 17,000 property owners the city suspects are actually subject to it. Some New York City homeowners say they received notices despite being full-time city residents. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who also championed the pied-à-terre tax in Albany, acknowledged frustrations with the city’s rollout on Monday.

But in reacting to Trump’s comments Tuesday, she defended the policy.

“I believe that in the state of New York if you have a $5 million second home, that you should be able to afford to pay for police and fire and trash removal and snow removal in wintertime,” Hochul said. “It's about paying your fair share. Donald Trump should focus on all the pain he's causing New Yorkers and knock it off and not worry about us."

The Mamdani administration has pushed back an initial deadline for homeowners potentially subject to the tax to file an appeal by a month to Sept. 18.

Trump’s Fifth Avenue triplex is on the 900,000-home list, though it’s unclear whether he received a notice.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are represented by Randy Mastro, a frequent Mamdani antagonist who served as first deputy mayor under Mayor Eric Adams.

“There are a few things more certain in New York City than death, taxes and Randy Mastro filing a lawsuit against this administration,” Mamdani quipped on Monday.

Mamdani told reporters his administration will "vigorously defend” the rollout in court and remains confident in the legality of the city’s implementation.

The tax, he said, is something that “will help fund safer streets, that will help fund stronger schools, and it will help fund the city that New Yorkers deserve.”

Trump, meanwhile, predicted on Tuesday the surcharge will end up costing New York city and state “a fortune.”

“The money, eventually to be gotten, is very little compared to to the TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return.”

Nick Reisman contributed to this report.