New York City’s super-rich complain about Mamdani’s tax on second homes

{"text":[[{"start":11.05,"text":"New York City’s super-rich are up in arms over a new tax on second homes proposed by mayor Zohran Mamdani and state governor Kathy Hochul."}],[{"start":20.9,"text":"Hedge fund billionaire Daniel Loeb accused the mayor of “stirring up class warfare” in a post on X. He also said Mamdani was “doxxing” the investor Ken Griffin, whose $238mn Manhattan penthouse was featured in a video accompanying the unveiling of the new tax plan on Wednesday."}],[{"start":39.849999999999994,"text":"“You can’t tax a city into prosperity and you don’t attract capital by demonising philanthropists,” said Loeb, who made big donations to prevent Mamdani from winning the 2025 mayoral race."}],[{"start":52.199999999999996,"text":"Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor who assumed office in January, said the tax, which will apply to second homes worth more than $5mn, was aimed at “the richest of the rich” who “store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don’t actually live here”."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":68.44999999999999,"text":"President Donald Trump weighed in on the proposed measure on Thursday, writing on his Truth Social platform that “Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York! . . . the TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG”. "}],[{"start":82.44999999999999,"text":"The proposal, which Hochul said would be included in the state budget this spring, would be the first significant new tax on the city’s wealthiest residents since Mamdani was elected in November on a platform that included raising levies on high earners."}],[{"start":96.74999999999999,"text":"The Democratic governor said the proposed “pied-à-terre” tax would raise at least $500mn a year for New York, which is facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit."}],[{"start":106.89999999999999,"text":"Griffin owns a portfolio of properties in the US and London, including in Florida where he relocated the headquarters of his hedge fund, Citadel, from Chicago in 2022. "}],[{"start":118.44999999999999,"text":"Citadel is also helping develop a new skyscraper for its offices in New York, where more than 1,800 of its employees are based."}],[{"start":126.6,"text":"Some of the city’s wealthiest denizens rallied around Griffin. “We should be applauding Ken for spending $238 million in NYC, not attacking him for doing so,” Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who spent $1mn opposing Mamdani’s candidacy, wrote on X. "}],[{"start":145.79999999999998,"text":"He added that, while “Mamdani likes the tag line ‘Tax the rich’”, his plans “will harm the constituencies he is supposedly trying to help”."}],[{"start":154.35,"text":"A spokesperson for Griffin did not respond to a request for comment."}],[{"start":158.75,"text":"Mamdani previously told the FT: “I do not have a reflexive opposition to any one industry or to any one individual or to any one category of net worth.” "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":169.4,"text":"But the 34-year-old progressive’s upset in a mayoral campaign fuelled by populist rhetoric stoked fears on Wall Street that he would raise taxes, with figures such as Loeb spending large sums to try to halt his candidacy."}],[{"start":183.35,"text":"Mamdani’s campaign pledge to raise income taxes on millionaires has been blocked by the moderate governor."}],[{"start":189.7,"text":"Noble Black, a broker at luxury real estate group Corcoran, said clients had been calling him since the news of the second-home tax was announced. “These people are not captive, the wealthy that are buying here do not have to be buying here.”"}],[{"start":203.89999999999998,"text":"Black warned rich would-be second-home buyers could instead choose to stay in hotels, which would affect the “normal New Yorkers” whose professions — from construction workers to housekeepers to designers — support “wealthier people coming in and spending money in the city”."}],[{"start":219.14999999999998,"text":"But some figures in the city’s luxury housing industry were not concerned by the announcement."}],[{"start":224.7,"text":"“We’ve had this so many times, mansion tax, 9/11 . . . whenever anyone doubts New York they’re proven wrong,” Matthew Lesser, a senior partner at New York City townhouse brokerage firm Leslie J Garfield, said on Thursday. "}],[{"start":239.39999999999998,"text":"“I don’t think there’s going to be an impact” on the volume of transactions in the city, he added."}],[{"start":251.54999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776451074_8149.mp3"}