Judge pauses Mamdani's roll-out of luxury home tax

A Staten Island judge on Monday temporarily blocked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new rollout of a tax on the second homes of wealthy New Yorkers.

Mamdani supported the new pied-à-terre tax, which was proposed by New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, earlier this year. The tax was expected to bring in approximately $500 million for the city annually, according to the New York Times.

Judge Wayne M. Ozzi of the State Supreme Court granted temporary restraining orders on the tax, after New York City homeowners sued to stop its implementation. The Mamdani administration filed an appeal shortly thereafter.

New York City homeowners claimed the city failed to ensure that the homes it listed for the tax actually met the requirements. The tax only applied to non-primary residence homes that cost more than $5 million.

"The city screwed this up… got it wrong… stop the train and make them do it over," attorney Randy Mastro told the court. "The city is to bear the burden. They didn’t do their homework."

The homeowners are not challenging the legality of the order, according to Fox News, and instead are suing the administration for its implementation after it published a list that exposed the names, addresses and property values of more than 900,000 New York City homeowners.

The judge has ordered the city to take the posting down.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.