As Gotham’s mayor continued to set his socialist sights on second homes, a judge once again ruled against the city, deeming the rollout “arbitrary and capricious.”
Even before moving into Gracie Mansion, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) was open about his agenda to redistribute wealth. Now, as numerous utopian plans were already cast aside, Hizzoner hit another roadblock in funding as a judge ordered a redo on the city’s pied-à-terre tax rollout Tuesday for violating due process rights.
Having previously issued a temporary restraining order on the tax after a suit was filed for placing the burden of proof on residents as to whether or not they are subject to it, Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi described the issued notices as “arbitrary and capricious, affected by errors of law, and in violation of the recipients’ due process rights,” as he found the city failed to follow procedures.
In calling out the NYC Department of Finance (DOF) for violation of homeowners’ due process rights, Ozzi’s ruling read, “No crime is involved here, homeowners are being substantially harmed and penalized needlessly by DOF’s method of implementing the tax law.”
He further indicated that removing the list of taxed properties from the internet and using proper procedures to post a correct list would allow the policy to move forward.
That list had included the addresses of more than 900,000 homeowners in what many considered to be a risk to their safety given the history of harassment demonstrated by radical activists.
Mamdani doxxes the homeowners he wants to target next https://t.co/hmnEJ5nD1O via @BIZPACReview
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) July 28, 2026
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s office promptly filed an appeal that, based on New York State law, allows the implementation of the tax on second homes valued over $5 million to proceed while the legal process plays out.
“The auto stay allows the city to continue, as we have been, with the implementation of the pied-à-terre surcharge and puts the lower court’s order on pause,” a city official told Fox News.
Likewise, in defending his boss and the money-grabbing scheme, Mamdani spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach described the tax as a surcharge employed as a “basic principle of fairness,” and the city should not be a “tax haven for the wealthy few.”
“If you can afford a luxury second home in New York City, you can afford to pay your fair share for the schools, streets and parks that make this city work,” he went on. “Our administration is fighting every day to deliver for working New Yorkers. The ultra-wealthy are fighting in court to avoid paying their fair share. They have filed lawsuit after lawsuit to protect their privilege, and we will not back down.”
“Today’s decision is wrong, and we will invoke a stay of the injunction. With a stay, we will continue implementing the surcharge fairly, efficiently and in full compliance with the law, as we have since day one,” added Rauschenbach.
In his own statement to Fox 5 NY, attorney Randy Mastro, once a deputy mayor for Mamdani’s predecessor New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), expressed on behalf of his clients, “Now the administration must go back and do what it should have done from the start: use all the information at its disposal to make an individualized ‘initial determination’ about who truly owes this surcharge before demanding that they pay it.”
“It’s a shame that it took a lawsuit to get this administration to do the right thing,” he continued. “In short, City Hall botched this rollout and should have just admitted error and fixed its own mistake, instead of wasting time and taxpayer dollars by fighting it in court. But now, thanks to this decision, it will have to do it right by the New Yorkers it has wronged.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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